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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by Edwin 
Williams, in tiie Clerk's Office of the District Court of the 
Southern District of New-York. 



0J ••• 



XA3^ 



K- B. CLAYTON, 
PRINTER. 






1^^ 



CONTENTS. 



'Page. 
Introductory Remarks 1 

Cabot's Discoveries 8 

Voyages of the Cortereals 9 

Sir Hugh Willoughby's Voyage 9 

Frobisher's Expeditions 10 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Expedition 12 

Davis's Expedition 12 

Vovages of the Dutch 14 

Voyages of Weymouth, Knight, and Hall 14 

Hudson's Expedition 14 

Button's Expedition 16 

Baffin's Expedition 17 

Monk's Expedition 20 

Fox's Expedition 20 

James's Voyage 21 

Grosseleiz and Gillam's Expedition 22 

Wood's Expedition 23 

Behring's Voyages 24 

Middleton's Voyages 27 

Heame's Expeditions 27 

Joseph Frobisher's Expeditions. 29 



IV CONTENTS. 

Mr. Pond's Expedition 29 

Cook's Voyage 30 

Mackenzie's Expedition 31 

Vancouver's Voyage 33 

Kotzebue's Discoveries 35 

First Voyage of Captain Ross 36 

Parry's First Expedition 38 

Parry's Second Voyage 42 

Parry's Third Voyage 48 

Parry's Fourth Voyage 50 

Captain Franklin's First Journey 52 

Captain Franklin's Second Expedition 62 

Captain LycJn's Voyage 70 

Captain Beechey's Voyage 71 

Captain Ross's Second Expedition.. 79 

Appendix 173 

Captain Back's Expedition 190 



PREFACE 



THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



In offering to the American public the fol- 
lowing brief sketch, of the last voyage of Captain 
Ross to the Arctic Regions, we are sure of per- 
forming an acceptable service to thattnumerous 
class of citizens, who seek with eager curiosity 
for an account of the hazardous enterprise he 
attempted in the cause of science. The intelli- 
gence of his safe return to England, after the 
long and painful uncertainty that hung over his 
fate, while it was hailed with joy by his country, 
men, was received in the United States with 
sympathetic feeling. The public may soon ex- 
pect to be gratified with an authentic account of 
the voyage prepared by Captain Ross himself, 
and now in the course of publication in England. 
The forthcoming work will however probably 

be too voluminous for the general reader in this 
2 



VI PREFACE. 

country, and as the most important and interest- 
ing circumstances of the voyage are contained 
in the following compilation from minutes of 
evidence, before the Committee of the House of 
Commons, it may answer the purpose of those 
who wish only a summary statement. In the pre- 
liminary sketch we have given a brief account of 
the various voyages which have been made to 
the Arctic Seas, since the discovery of America, 
presenting a series of hazardous and bold enter- 
prises unequalled in the history of maritime 
adventure. This historical narrative of Polar 
Voyages we have compiled principally from 
" Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia," and it seems 
peculiarly appropriate to precede the narrative 
of Captain Ross's late Voyage to the same re- 
gions. 
New-York, March, 1835. 



A SKETCH 

OF THE 

VOYAOES AN® EXPEDITIONS 

WHICH HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE 

From the earliest period to the year 1827. 



COMPILED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES. 



A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE to India (the name 
given in the middle ages to all the distant coun- 
tries of Asia) is an object which has attracted 
the attention of geographers and navigators 
from the discovery of the continent of America 
to the present period. To the strong desire 
which has prevailed to solve this problem, we 
owe the knowledge we possess of those icy re- 
gions that surround the North Pole, which has 
been obtained by the succession of bold adven- 
tures by European Navigators. And although 
the existence of such a passage seems doubtful, 
or, if it does exist, would prove useless for the 
purposes of commerce, the following short ac- 
count of the various voyages and expeditions 
which have been undertaken, chiefly with a view 
to this object, it is believed will be found inte- 
resting, and useful for reference. 

The discovery of a shorter passage to India 
was the first incitement to venture westward into 
the Atlantic Ocean. The trade carried on by 
European nations, with the East Indies at first 



8 CABOT. 

found its way through the Mediterranean, across 
the Isthmus of Suez, down the Red Sea, and by 
the Straits of Babelmandel to the Indian Ocean. 
This was a difficult and hazardous passage, in- 
terrupted as it was by a tedious land carriage 
over the Isthmus. The Portuguese after many 
dangerous and disastrous voyages succeeded in 
doubhng the Cape of Good Hope ; thus opening 
a passage to India, which if not shorter, was 
more sure of success. This important discovery 
roused the genius of navigation, and men began 
to thinii of shortening the passage to India by 
steering in a westerly direction. This idea first 
gave rise to the famous voyages of Columbus^ 
and the consequent discovery of the New 
World. Previously, (in the 15th century,) Co- 
lumbus, in an arduous voyage to the north, pro- 
ceeded as far as the 73d degree of latitude, and 
it is probable that he then approached the coast 
of Greenland. The conquests of the Spaniards 
and Portuguese in the western world presented 
such a brilliant train of exploits and discoveries, 
as to rouse the other nations of Europe to direct 
their attention towards discoveries in that quar- 
ter. The English in particular, were early dis- 
tinguished in the school of intrepid and skilful 
mariners. 

Cabot's discoveries. 

In the year 1497, Henry the Seventh of Eng- 
land despatched John Cabot, a Venetian mariner, 
(who had settled in Bristol,) to sail along the nor- 
thern coast of the newly discovered continent, 
and thence proceed if possible to the East In- 



CORTEREALS — WILLOUGHBY. 9 

dies. He was accompanied by his son Sebastian, 
who had the chief direction of the voyage. They 
relate, that after running a north-west course, 
they discovered an island in lat. 50 deg. north, to 
which they gave the name of Newfoundland. 
Steering to the north-east, and finding that the 
land still continued to oppose them in that direc- 
tion, they abandoned the north-west passage, 
and proceeded along the coast of the United 
States in a southerly direction, as far as Florida^ 
when their scanty supply of provisions obliged 
them to return to England. 

VOYAGES OP THE CORTEEEALS. 

The Portuguese however claim the honour of 
having discovered Newfoundland long before the 
time of Cabot. John Vaz Corterealhad explored 
the northern seas as early as the year 1463, and 
discovered the Terra del Baccalhaos or land of 
Cod-fish. Subsequently, Gaspar, the son of 
John Cortereal, steered northward from the 
Azores, and in lat. 60 deg. discovered Greenland. 
Elated by his success, and confident of finding 
a north-west passage to India, he easily obtained 
permission to undertake a second voyage. He 
sailed from Lisbon, May, 1501, with two ships, 
and had a prosperous passage as far as Green- 
land, but a violent storm separated the ships, and 
the one in which Cortereal sailed was never heard 
of. The other succeeded in reaching Portugal. 

SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBy's VOYAGE. 

During the great excitement that prevailed 
in Europe to find a north-west passage to India, 

2* 



10 FROBISHER. 

rumours were very generally circulated of the 
existence of a strait, supposed to stretch across 
the continent of America from Baffin's Bay to 
Behring's Strait. This passage was known by 
the name of the Strait of Anain, and so firmly 
was the world convinced of its existence that 
they actually delineated it upon their maps and 
charts. This circumstance tended to keep alive 
the spirit of research, and Sir Hugh Willoughby, 
in 1553, was fitted out by Edward the Sixth, of 
England, to seek for a north-east passage to 
Cathay, in China, of which Marco Polo in his 
voyages had given such glowing descriptions. 
But this navigator with all his crew perished 
miserably by cold and famine on the eastern 
coast of Lapland. 

feobisher's expeditions. 

In 1576, Martin Frohisher, an Englishman, 
under the patronage of Dudley, Earl of War- 
wick, equipped two small ships, each of about 
ihirt}^ tons burden, with which he set sail from 
England, and arriving on the American coast, 
discovered in lat. 63 deg. north a strait, up which 
he sailed to the distance of 60 leagues. By va- 
rious disasters, he lost several of his men, and 
his ships, having suffered by stress of weather, 
he returned home, convinced that he had dis- 
covered the long-sought passage to the Pacific 
Ocean. The Esquimaux in their boats, were at 
first mistaken by Frobisher and his crew, for 
porpoises or some kind of strange fish, and 
one of them was taken to England. One of the 
seamen happened to bring home a stone as a 



FSOBTSHER. 11 

memorial of his voyage to those distant coun- 
tries, which on being assayed by the gold-finers 
of London was reported to contain a consider- 
able quantity of gold. Thus the hope of finding 
again gold, became the incentive to distant voy- 
ages and geographical discoveries. Queen 
Elizabeth, now openly favoured such an enter- 
prise, and, in 1577, Frobisher departed on his 
second voyage with three ships, one of which 
was equipped by the Queen. He steered for the 
strait where his preceding voyage had termi- 
nated (since called Frobisher^s Straits,) and 
sought the spot where the supposed gold had 
been found, but could not discover a vestige of 
it on the whole island. Oh the neighbouring 
islands, however, the ore was found in large 
quantities. As gold, and not discovery, was the 
object of this voyage, nearly 200 tons of the 
glittering mineral, v^^hich they believed fo be 
gold ore, were taken on board. ¥/hen the la- 
ding was completed, they set sail homewards, and 
though the ships were dispersed by violent 
storms, they all arrived safely in different ports 
in England. Flattered by the hopes entertained 
of the discovery by Frobisher of valuable gold 
regions, and a north-west passage to the Pacific 
Ocean, the Queen resolved to establish a co- 
lony in the newly discovered country, to which 
she gave the name of Meta Incognita. A fleet 
of 15 ships was fitted out and 100 persons ap- 
pointed to form the settlement, keeping with them 
three of the ships ; the other twelve were to be 
employed in bringing back cargoes of gold ore. 
Frobisher was appointed Admiral of the expe- 



12 GILBERT. 

dition, and on taking leave received from the 
Queen a gold chain as a mark of her approba- 
tion of his past conduct. The fleet sailed in 
May, 1578, and in three weeks discovered 
Friezeland, of which possession was taken, and 
then steered a direct course to Frobisher's 
Straits. Distress and vexations of various kinds 
thwarted the attempt to fix a colony. Violent 
storms dispersed the fleet, and at length after 
enduring extreme hardships, it was resolved to 
return homewards, and the ships arrived at va~ 
rious ports in England before the commence- 
ment of October. 

SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT'S EXPEDITION. 

In 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a gentleman 
of briUiant talents and of romantic temper^ 
obtained a patent from Queen EHzabeth which 
invested him with power to discover and take 
possession of lands yet undiscovered by any 
Christian nation ; and embarking from England 
with a fleet of five ships, he set sail to the north- 
west, and reached the Island of St. John's in the 
gulf of St. Lawrence, where, afl;er taking posses- 
sion in the Queen's name, he left a part of hi& 
crew to settle the country, whose attention was 
chiefly to be turned to the discovery of precious 
metals, and then attempted to return to England; 
but when near the Azores, the ship, in which 
was the gallant Sir Humphrey, encountered a 
heavy sea, and was swallowed up by the waves. 



The failure attending the recent expeditions 



DAVIS. 13 

induced voyagers to abandon the search for gold, 
and it was now resolved, to despatch an expedi- 
tion of which discovery should be the sole object. 
The merchants of London being satisfied of the 
existence of a " north-west passage," fitted out 
two small barks and intrusted the command to 
John Davis an expert and experienced seaman. 
He sailed from Dartmouth in June, 1585, and by 
the middle of July entered the strait since called 
by his name, and coasting along the western 
side of Greenland, the country presented so bleak 
and gloomy an appearance, that he named it the 
Land of Desolation. Steering to the north-west, 
he saw land in lat. 64 deg. 15 min. which proved 
to be a group of islands, among which were nu- 
merous good harbours. To that near which he 
cast anchor, he gave the name of Gilherfs 
Sound, in honour of Mr. Adrian Gilbert, a bro- 
ther of the unfortunate Sir Humphrey Gilbert. 
He entered the passage now known as Cumber- 
land's Strait, up which he sailed 60 leagues. 
He saw several whales, and encountered a 
tide flowing in an opposite direction from that in 
which he entered. These circumstances con- 
firmed him in the belief that he had found the 
passage. which had so long been vainly sought, 
and with these flattering hopes he returned to 
England. The success of Davis procured him 
a second expedition, and sailing up Davis' Strait 
till he could proceed no farther, he was satisfied 
that this was not the desired passage. On a. 
third voyage however, he discovered several 
other straits, one of which he maintained had a 
communication with the Pacific Ocean. 



14 THE DUTCH. 



VOYAGES or THE DUTCH. 

About the close of the 16th century two voy- 
ages were undertaken by the Dutch, commanded 
by Cornelison and Barentz, to find a north-east 
passage to Cathay, both of which proved unsuc- 
cessful. They arrived at the coast of Nova Zem- 
bla, and proceeded north as far as 77 deg. 25 
min. where they encountered large fields of ice, 
which obliged them to return. 

VOLTAGES OF WEYMOUTH, KNIGHT, AND HALL. 

Unsuccessful attempts at a north-west pas- 
sage were made by Weymouth in 1602, and 
Knight and Hall in 1606. 

Hudson's expeditions. - 

The numerous attempts to discover a north- 
west or north-east passage to China had hitherto 
proved fruitless, from difficulties which it was 
believed experience might learn to conquer. It 
was now resolved by the merchants of London 
to explore a new route, and seek a passage 
across the North Pole. For this bold enterprise 
they selected Henry Hudson, a man who had by 
his boldness in encountering hardships, distin- 
guished himself as a skilful and intrepid naviga- 
tor. He is said to have been the first EngHsh- 
man who made observations on the inclination of 
the magnetic needle. Hudson sailed from Graves- 
end on the 1st of May, 1607, and descried land 
in 70 deg. north latitude, which proved to be 
the eastern coast of Greenland. Advancing 
three degrees farther, he descried a lofty range 



HUDSON. 15 

of mountains, free from snow. The severity of 
the cold appeared to diminish beyond a certain 
degree of latitude towards the North Pole ; the 
air was more temperate, and the rain fell in large 
drops. From Greenland he directed his course 
to Newland or Spitzbergen, which he made in lat. 
78 deg. In lat. 8 deg. some of his crew went on 
shore and discovered morses' teeth, whale-bone, 
deers' horns, and the tracks of other animals. 
The approach of winter and want of provisions 
obliged him to desist from prosecuting his voy- 
age any farther^ and he consequently directed 
his course homeward, where he arrived safely 
in September, the same year. In 1608, Hudson 
was provided with a ship for a second voyage, 
and as he had found the ice to hinder him from 
passing to the northward of Spitzbergen, he was 
directed now to repeat the attempt to find a 
north-east passage to China. He was prevented 
in this, by the quantities of ice which encumber 
these seas, he therefore abandoned that project, 
and steered for England, where he arrived on 
the 26th of August. 

In a third expedition fitted out the next year, 
being this time employed by the Dutch, Hud- 
son sailed for North America, and discovered 
the river which still bears his name. A mystery 
hangs over the exact object of this voyage. The 
vessel in which he sailed was called the Half. 
Moon. In 1610 a fourth expedition was under, 
taken by Hudson, who steered for Frobisher's 
Straits, and had long to contend with contrary 
winds, but persisting in a westerly course he 
found himself in a strait, which he supposed to be 



16 BUTTON. 

the one sought for, but which is still farther to the 
south than Frobisher's, and has since been called 
Hudson's Strait. He succeeded in reaching the 
north-west coast of Labrador, naming it Cape 
Wolstonholm, and a cluster of Islands to the 
north-west he gave the name of Digges. Here 
the land seemed to turn to the south, and a great 
sea opened to view, which has since received the 
name of Hudson^s Bay. Having proceeded a 
little to the south, he entered a small inlet giving 
to it the name of Michaelmas Bay, in allusion to 
the day on which it was first seen. As the sea- 
son was far advanced, he found it necessary to 
prepare for a long and tedious winter. Their 
scanty supply of provisions compelled their com- 
mander to put the crew upon allowance, which 
caused such discontent among them that a mu- 
tiny was the awful consequence. Hudson was 
hound hand and foot and lowered into a boat where 
he was left to perish by cold and hunger. Such 
was the unfortunate end of this great and good 
man, whose deeds record more indelibly than 
any monument, the praise so justly due to him. 

button's expedition. 

The discovery of the great sea to the west of 
Cape Wolstonholm was a beacon lighted up for 
a guidance to new discovery. The merchants 
of London caused an expedition to be prepared 
in 1612, and intrusted it to Captain (afterwards 
Sir Thomas) Button. He was fitted out with 
two vessels, the Resolution and Discovery, and 
accompanied by Pricket and Bylot, two expe- 
rienced seamen, who had accompanied Hudson 



BAFFIN. 17 

in his last voyage ; and although suspicions of 
guilt hung over their character, they were sup- 
posed to be acquainted with the navigation of 
Arctic Seas, and were on that account appointed 
to the service. On entering Hudson's Straits, 
they proceeded directly westward until they 
reached an island since called Southampton 
Island. From this they continued to sail west- 
ward until they fell in with the main land of 
North America in lat. 60 deg. 40 min., giving it 
the name of Hopes Checked. They now stood for 
the south and in lat. 57 deg. 10 min. entered the 
mouth of a river since known as Nelson's River, 
In this place preparations were made to spend 
the winter. Some of the crew died from the in- 
tensity of the cold. In April, when the ice had 
disappeared, Button launched his vessels, and 
sailing northward along the coast of Hudson's 
Bay as far as lat. 65 deg., he fell in with a cluster 
of islands, to which he gave the name ofManseVs 
Islands, (now known as Mansjields Islands,) 
after this he directed his course homeward, and 
reached England in the autumn of 1613, after a 
voyage of sixteen months. 

Baffin's expedition. 

Notwithstanding the numerous disappoint- 
ments which occurred in attempts to discover a 
north-west passage, the visible progress of geo- 
graphical knowledge was inducement sufficient 
to keep alive the spirit of adventure. In 1615 
the Discovery was fitted out on a fourth expedi- 
tion to the "North- West." Robert Bylot, who 
had before frequented those seas, was appointed 
3 



:<^ 



18 BAFFIN. 

master, and William Baffin, vfho wrote an ac- 
count of his voyage, his mate. Baffin was an 
experienced seaman, and possessed great skill 
in navigation. During this voyage he took oc- 
casion to exercise his scientific acquirements. 
He is said to have been the first navigator who 
laid down a method for determining the longitude 
at sea, by observations on the heavenly bodies. 
They proceeded as far as Resolution Island, and 
observing a tide to flow from the north, were at 
one time confident of success in discovering a 
north-west passage. As they advanced within 
the inlet which flattered their hopes, the shoali- 
ness of the water soon undeceived them, and 
after encountering great danger from the quan- 
tities of broken ice, they resolved on returning to 
England. The merits of Baffin were too well 
known to allow him to remain long unemployed. 
The same company of merchants that had 
equipped the preceding expedition fitted out the 
Discovery on a fifth voyage in search of a north- 
west passage. Robert By lot was again appointed 
master, and William Baffin pilot. The Discovery 
sailed from Gravesend in March, 1616, and run- 
ning northward up Davis' Straits, anchored in lat. 
70 deg. 20 min. The rise of the tide here was 
only eight or nine feet, a circumstance which 
Baffin looked on as a presage of disappointment, 
yet as the ice was now disappearing he persisted 
in a northerly course, but the weather was so 
intensely cold, though in the middle of summer, 
that the sails and ropes were so frozen as to be 
rendered almost unmanageable. In lat. 75 deg. 
40 min. the ice disappeared, and the prospect of 



BAFFIN. 19 

-an open sea, again revived hopes of a passage. 
Stormy weather drove thera into a sound, which 
from the number of whales observed in it, they 
called Whale Sound. To another spacious inlet 
running to the north of 78 deg. they gave the name 
of Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, and an Island near 
it they called Hakluyfs Island. " This Sound," 
says Baffin, " is admirable in one respect, be- 
cause in it is the greatest variation of the com- 
pass of any part in the known world, for by 
divers good observations I found it to be above 
five points, or 56 deg. varied to the westward." 
They now stood to the south-west, until they made 
land near the entrance of a sound, which they 
named Alderman Jones' Sound. Still proceeding 
westward, they found again in 74 deg. 40 min. 
another great opening, calling ii Sir James Lan- 
caster's Sound. The hope of a passage was now 
greatly diminished, the shore was unapproach- 
-able from the ice, and sailing along this barrier 
they arrived at Cumberland's Straits, where there 
remained no longer any hope of a western pas- 
sage, and they therefore abandoned any farther 
prosecution of the voyage. The spacious inlet 
which they had explored has since received the 
name of Baffin's Bay. They set sail for England, 
and arrived on the 13th of August at Portsmouth. 
From the years 1603 to 1613 several expedi- 
tions were equipped, to endeavourto seek a north- 
east passage, by the Dutch and English, under 
different commanders, one of which to Spitzber- 
gen was intrusted to WilHam Baffin. It is need- 
less to add that they all proved fruitless, since a 
passage in that direction has always been found 



20 MONK— FOX. 

to be attended with the same difficulties as that 
by the north-west. 

monk's expedition. 

In the year 1619 two ships chiefly manned by 
Enghsh seamen, and commanded hy Jan Blonk, 
were sent out on a voyage of discovery, with the 
intention of pursuing the tracks of Hudson ancl- 
Baffin. The ice prevented Monk from running 
along the western coast of Greenland, he conse- 
quently steered for Hudson's Strait, and finding 
the coast of America in lat. 63 deg. 20 min., he 
took shelter in a harbour, which he called Monks'* 
Winter Harbour (probably the Chesterfield inlet 
of our maps.) The surrounding country they 
named New-Denmark. The severity of the win- 
ter and the use of salt provisions produced the 
scurvy among the crews, so that out of sixty- 
four men only three remained alive in the spring, 
(among whom was Monk himself,) and they were 
so emaciated by disease that it was with the 
greatest difficuhy they succeeded in reaching 
Europe. They put to sea, and after a stormy pas- 
sage arrived safe at a port on the coast of Norway. 



The spirit of discovery seems to have slept 
for several years after the voyages of Baffin, 
probably from the severities of the climate, 
and the conclusions of navigators that there 
was no hope of a " north-west passage." 
However, in 1631, Captain Luke Fox ohimned 
from the King of England the loan of one of 
his ships, for the purpose of making one more 



JAMES. 21 

effort to reach Cathay and the other countries 
on the east of Asia, which he confidently be- 
lieved he should arrive at, by pursuing a north- 
westerly course. On taking leave, he obtained 
from the King a map of all the countries his 
predecessors had visited, with a letter to the 
Emperor of Japan. On entering Hudson's 
Strait, he encountered large quantities of ice, 
and "at Salisbury Island," he observes, "the 
needle becomes sluggish and insensible," a 
phenomenon which he ascribes to the " sharp- 
ness of the air interposed between his needle 
and the attractive point." 

Sailing down Hudson's Bay, he arrived at 
Nelson's River, where he found a cross, that 
had been erected there by Sir Thomas Button. 
Disappointed of finding a passage in that quar- 
ter, he returned to England on the last day of 
October, without having lost any of his crew, 
which, in those perilous undertakings, may well 
be considered a remarkable instance. Fox 
was evidently dissatisfied with the issue of his 
voyage, still persisting that a passage might be 
obtained further to the north, as he observed a 
tide flowing in that direction. 

JAMEs' VOYAGE. 

In 1635, the merchants of Bristol despatched 
Captain Thomas James with similar instructions 
as those of Fox, but he proved himself less 
qualified for the undertaking, and surely was 
less fortunate. His ships suffered much in 
Hudson's Bay from boisterous winds, and the 
vast masses of ice that encumber this bay. He 
3* 



22 GROSSELIEZ AND GILLAM. 

found himself obliged to winter at Charlton 
Island in lat. 52 deg., and after an unsuccessful 
voyage, in which he experienced various dis- 
asters, he returned to England. 

GROSSELIEZ AND GILLAm's EXPEDITION. 

The voyages to Hudson's Bay, although they 
did not disprove the existence of a " north- 
west passage," were not calculated to raise 
sanguine expectations in that quarter. The 
English had almost forgotten Hudson's Bay, 
when an accident diverted their attention again 
to that region. The French settlers in Canada, 
in their travels through it, in search of peltry, 
at length arrived at the shores of Hudson's Bay. 
One of these adventurers, named GrosselieZy 
having visited that coast, conceived that it pos- 
sessed great advantages for the fur trade. He 
proceeded to France and laid his representa- 
tions before government. But failing to excite 
the attention of the French ministers, he was 
listened to with interest by the English ambas- 
sador at Paris, who gave him a letter to Prince 
Rupert, with which he went to England. The 
King was so much pleased with the project, 
that he immediately engaged Grosseliez to go 
out in one of his ships, not merely to make a 
settlement in Hudson's Bay, but also to seek 
again for the long desired route to India. Cap. 
tain Gillam was appointed to carry out Grosse- 
liez to Hudson's Bay, and thence to proceed on 
his western discoveries. Gillam wintered at 
Rupert's River, considerably to the north of 
Charlton Island, where h© laid the foundation of 



WOOD KNIGHT. 23 

the first English settlement, by building a fort, 
to which he gave the name of Fort Charles. 
His majesty, to promote their endeavours, " con- 
ferred on them exclusively all the lands and territo- 
ries in Hudson'' s Bay, together with all the trade 
thereof, and all others which they should acquire." 
This extraordinary charter, with its exclusive 
and sweeping privileges, granted to the Hud- 
son's Bay Company in 1669, continues without 
abridgment to the present day. 

wood's expedition. 

In the mean time, however, the^ hope of a 
north-east passage to China, was revived by the 
writings of Joseph Moxen, a Fellow of the Royal 
Society. Captain John Wood, an experienced 
seaman, presented a memorial to the King, in 
which he strongly supported the opinion that 
there existed a north-east passage to Cathay. 

His arguments met with attention, and in 
1675, he obtained two vessels, the Speedwell 
and the Prosperous, for the prosecution of the 
voyage. They were victualled for sixteen 
months, and stored with such merchandise as 
was thought most likely to turn to account on 
the coasts of Tartary and Japan. This unfor- 
tunate crew were wrecked upon the coasts of 
Nova Zembla, and were miraculously rescued 
from a watery grave, by an interposition of 
Providence, and arrived safely home to England. 

knight's expedition. 

Mr. Knight, governor of the factory esta« 
blished by the Hudson's Bay Company on 



24 BEHRING. 

Nelson's River, learned from the native Indians, 
that at some distance to the northward, and on 
the banks of a navigable river or inlet, there 
was a rich mine of copper. He immediately 
applied to the Company, for ships to discover 
this rich mine. Two vessels were at length in 
preparation for the voyage, the sole direction of 
which was intrusted to Knight, who sailed in 
1719, " by God's permission, to find out the 
Strait of Anain, in order to discover gold and 
other valuable commodities, to the northward." 
These ships never returned. Many years had 
elapsed before any thing was heard of the un- 
happy crews. In 1769, Mr. Hearne collected 
from the Esquimaux Indians, an account of 
their having perished miserably by cold, famine, 
and disease, on Marble Island, in Hudson's 
Bay, in the winter of 1720. A vessel was des- 
patched, in 1722, from Churchill River, com- 
manded by Captain Scroggs, in search of 
Knight and his crews ; but, without alluding to 
the object of his voyage, he brought back con- 
firmation of the existence of a copper mine. 
He had seen two Indians from the north, who 
told him of a rich mine of copper somewhere in 
that country, upon the shore, near the surface 
of the earth. They could direct the vessel so 
near to the mine, as to lay her side by it, and 
she would soon be laden with the precious ore. 
They had brought some pieces of copper to 
Churchill, that left no doubt of its reality. 

behring's voyages. 
In 1728, the Russian Government sent out an 



BEHRING. 25 

expedition, commanded by Captain Vetus Belir- 
ing, a Dane by birth, and Alexio Thoirikoff, a 
Russian officer. They sailed from Kamschatka 
on the 14th of July, and, steering to the east- 
ward, discovered land in lat. 64 deg. 30 min. 
To a small island to the northward, they gave 
the name of St. Lawrence. 

Behring did not proceed beyond lat. 67 deg. 18 
min., because as no land was discernible to the 
north or east, he conceived that he had ascertain- 
ed the separation of Asia from America, which 
was the sole object of his mission. Posterity has 
since equitably conferred on this passage the 
name of Behring's Straits. It is remarkable 
that Behring did not once during this voyage 
discover the continent of America, nor does he 
seem to have shaped his course of discovery to 
the eastward. Yet the existence of land in 
that direction was not an obscure tradition; it 
was even marked upon the maps and charts, 
drawn according to the best authorities that 
could be procured at that time. Subsequently, 
several voyages made by Russians, proved the 
existence of a vast tract of land to the east, for 
although they had not actually reached it, they 
had been visited on an island near the coast, by 
an Indian, who made them understand that he 
came from a large country to the east, where 
there were many animals and forests. The 
voyage of Krupishef completed the discovery 
of Behring's Strait, and proved the proximity of 
the Asiatic and American continents. This en- 
couraged the Russian government to continue 
their researches. Behring, and the officers who 



26 BEHllING, 

had served under him in his northern voyage, 
received marks of distinction, and a variety of 
plans were formed, for expeditions and disco- 
veries by sea. One object proposed, was to 
ascertain, if possible, an entire navigation from 
Archangel to Kamschatka ; another, of which 
Behring himself was to undertake the exeeu- 
tion, was to ascertain the exact distance between 
Kamschatka and the coast of America in the 
same parallel. The first of these objects was 
never attained. Many expeditions were fitted 
out to examine the northern coast of Siberia, 
but they all proved unfortunate. The naviga- 
tion from the Lena to the Yenisei has never 
been attained ; many brave men have perished 
in the attempt to accomplish it, but the Taimura 
promontory which stretches to the 78th degree 
of latitude, is always environed by immense 
quantities of ice, proving an insurmountable 
obstacle to navigation. In 1741, Behring and 
Thsirikof set sail on another voyage, with the 
intention, when they reached lat. 50 deg. north, 
to turn their course directly to the east, till they 
reached the American continent. In latitude 53 
deg. 28 min. they descried the continent. The 
appearance of the land was grand and gloomy. 
Mountains covered with snow extended far in- 
land ; one summit rose to a towering height 
above the rest, which they named Mount St, 
Elias. The two nearest headlands were called 
Cape St. Elias, and Hermogenes. Behring an- 
chored at an island near the continent, which 
they found peopled with a race differing from 
any they had before seen. On leaving this 



MIDDLETON HEARNE. 27 

island, and directing his course northerly, in 
lat. 55 deg. land was seen, and as the scurvy was 
making dreadful ravages among the crew, and 
the ship in a shattered condition, he came to the 
determination to winter there, in order to repair 
the vessel, and prepare lodgings for the sick, 
which was done by digging pits in some sand- 
hills near a brook which ran from a mountain 
into the sea, and the sails w^ere used for their 
present covering. The shores of the island 
were found to abound in sea-otters, whose skins 
now constitute the chief article of trade between 
the Russians and Chinese. Thirty of the crew, 
among whom was the brave Behring himself, 
died on the island. The survivors repaired the 
wreck, and reached Kamschatka the following 
summer, after bestowing Behring^ s name to the 
island on which he died. 

middleton's voyages. 

In 1741, Mr. Dobbs prevailed on the Admi- 
ralty to equip another expedition for the pur- 
pose of discovery in the North Polar Seas, and 
to seek a passage westward to India. This 
charge was given to Captain Middleton, who 
succeeded in reaching Repulse Bay, but re- 
turned to England without having effected the 
object of his voyage, and satisfied that there 
existed no such passage in that direction. 

hearne's expeditions. 
The immense extent of country stretching 
northward from Lake Superior, is yet but im- 
perfectly known. Its leading features, how.- 



28 IlEARNE. 

ever, its chains of lakes and its navigable rivers 
were very soon discovered by the British Fur 
Traders. As early as 1715 the Hudson's Bay 
Company had received from the Indians tolera- 
bly distinct accounts of a river flowing into the 
North Sea, whose banks were exceedingly rich 
in mines of copper. In 1769 Mr. Hearne 
set out from Fort Prince of Wales, on Hudson's 
Bay, for the purpose of exploring this river, but 
when he had proceeded about 200 miles his In- 
dian guide forsook him, which obliged him to 
return. 

He, however, was fitted out on a similar ex- 
pedition in February, 1770, taking with him five 
Indians, but no Europeans, who he fiDund were 
viewed with contempt by the natives, from their 
inability to bear hardships. When he had ad- 
vanced 500 miles into the interior he fiDund it 
necessary to wait till the severity of the season 
was relaxed. During the winter their sufferings 
from cold, hunger, and famine were almost in- 
describable. Towards the end of April they 
again set forward, and in August, when in lat. 
63 deg. 10 min. north and 10 deg. 40 min. west 
longitude from Churchill river, he was preparing 
to spend the winter among a friendly tribe of In- 
dians, when a gust of wind blew down his qua- 
drant, which was broken to pieces, and he was 
obliged to return. 

Undismayed by all these hardships and dis- 
appointments, Hearne a third time set out on the 
7th of December, the same year, in search of the 
Coppermine River, in company with an intelligent 
Indian named Montannahhi, He followed, this 



FROBISHER — POND. 29 

time, a more westerly course, and when in lat. 
60 deg. north and above 600 miles from the Fort, 
they built canoes, and proceeded by various 
lakes and streams in a more northerly course. 
On the 13th July, 1771, they reached the Copper- 
mine River. On the 17th Hearne commenced 
his survey of the mouth of the river. From ob- 
servations it appears that the ebb and flow of the 
tide was about 12 or 14 feet, and from the num- 
ber of seals which he saw on the ice, and the 
quantities of whale-bones found in the tents of 
the Esquimaux, that the expanse before him was 
the sea. It appeared to be full of islands 
and shoals as far as he could discern with a 
good telescope. On the last day of June he ar- 
rived at Fort Prince of Wales, after an absence 
of five months. 



In 1775, Mr. Joseph Frobisher, a gentleman 
engaged in the fur trade, undertook to penetrate 
into the country yet unexplored at the westward, 
where, after experiencing all the hardships 
which such undertakings are liable to, he re- 
turned without having accomplished any thing 
farther than to obtain a valuable collection of 
furs. In the following year, in a second expedi- 
tion, he succeeded in reaching Lake de la St.. 
Croix. 



In 1778 Mr. Pond followed the track of Mr. 
Frobisher, and succeeded in reaching Athabasca 
Lake, thus discovering a river which forms a 
4 



30 COOK. 

continuous navigation from the Canadian lakes 
to the sea. 

cook's voyage. 

The object of the celebrated Coolers last 
voyage was to explore the north-west coast of 
America, and ascertain, if possible, whether or 
not there existed a communication between the 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by the northern 
parts of America. On the 12th of July, 1776, 
Cook sailed from Plymouth Sound, and taking a 
southerly course to the Cape of Good Hope, en- 
tered the Indian Ocean, through which he 
passed to the Pacific. After visiting several 
islands in his way, he landed, March, 1778, on 
the coast of America, in lat. 44 deg. 33 min. To 
this part of the coast he gave the name of King 
George's Sound, but the native name of Nootka 
has since prevailed. To the north of Nootka 
Sound, in lat. 59 deg., he entered another wide 
inlet, on which he bestowed the name of Prince 
William's Sound. Cook was here surprised to 
find the natives, in dress, language, and physical 
peculiarities, so much resemble the Esquimaux 
of Hudson's Bay. Proceeding to the north-west, 
a wide inlet was discovered, which some conjec- 
tured might be a strait communicating with the 
Northern Ocean. When he had explored this 
inlet about 70 leagues, it appeared to terminate 
in a small river, now known as CooWs River, or 
Inlet, The ships now stood for the west, 
doubled the great Promontory of Alaska, and on 
the 9th of August, reached the most westerly 
point of the American continent, distant only 



MACKENZIE. 31 

thirteen leagues from the shores of Asia. On 
this headland Cook bestowed the name of Cape 
Prince of Wales. Crossing the strait to the 
opposite shore, he landed at Tshuktzki, and thus 
determined the exact width of the pass that se- 
parates Asia from America. Although Behring 
had sailed through this strait, he had not descried 
the shores of America, and consequently re- 
mained ignorant of the vast importance of his 
discoveries. Impassable masses of ice prevented 
his advancing further north thanTOdeg, 44 min., 
he consequently abandoned the idea of obtain- 
ing a passage in that direction, and resolved on 
completing his survey of islands in the Pacific. 
This celebrated navigator had, in 1755, enlisted 
in the English navy, and distinguished himself 
in the Colonial war, in the campaign of 1759, 
when the English, under the gallant Wolf, sue- 
ceeded in the conquest of Quebec. He was 
afterwards, in 1764, appointed to a marine sur- 
vey of the coasts of Newfoundland and Labra- 
dor, a commission executed with much honour 
to himself, and satisfaction to his patrons ; and 
an observation on an eclipse of the sun in New- 
foundland, procured him the character of an 
able mathematician. 

Mackenzie's expedition. 

To explore this river to which he has given 
his name, Mr. Alexander Mackenzie set forward 
on the 3d of June, 1789. He commenced his 
journey from Fort Chippewayan on the south side 
of the Lake of the Hills, attended by a party of 
Indians and Canadians. In descending the river, 



32 MACKENZIE. 

when in lat. 67 deg. 45 min., he learned from the 
Indians that the distance overland to the sea on 
the east side was not great ; and that to the west- 
ward it was still shorter. On the 12th of July 
they entered a lake as it appeared, though no 
land was seen ahead, but the water was shallow, 
and covered with ice. A rise was observed in 
the water, which as the wind was moderate was 
believed by all to proceed from the tide. He 
ascertained this rise to be eighteen inches, which 
with the number of whales seen sporting among 
the ice, induced our adventurers to believe they 
had actually reached the sea. He determined 
the latitude of an island on which they encamped 
to be 69 deg. 14 min., and which he called 
Whale Island. The expedition returned with- 
out any accident, to Fort Chippewayan on the 
12th of September, 1789. In 1792 Mackenzie 
set forth a second time to prosecute discoveries 
to the westward. He ascended the Peace River, 
which flows from the Rocky Mountains ; and in 
the spring of 1793, having made his way with 
much difficulty across this rugged chain, he em- 
barked on a river turning to the south-west. 
After encountering numerous difficulties, he 
succeeded in reaching its mouth, which meets 
the sea immediately below Prince of Wales 
Islands. On the face of a rock he inscribed in 
large characters, " Alexander Mackenzie, from 
Canada by land, 22d July, 1793." Our adven- 
turous travellers returned by the same route to 
Fort Chippewayan, bringing the assurance that 
he had reached the Pacilic Ocean. 



vancouver. 33 

Vancouver's voyage. 

In 1791, Captain Vancouver, who had been 
appointed by the British government second 
in command in a projected voyage to the Ant- 
arctic seas, was ordered to proceed to Nootka 
Sound, and, having received from the Spanish 
government the restitution of that territory, to 
survey the whole north-west coast of America, 
from iat. 30 deg. to Cook's river, in 61 deg. 
north. He sailed in the Discovery, accompanied 
by Captain Broughton, in the Chatham, a small 
vessel of 135 tons burthen. 

Vancouver was directed by his instructions to 
fix his attention chiefly on two objects. First, 
on the water communications that might facili- 
tate the commerce between the north-west and 
north-east coasts of America ; and, secondly, 
he was to ascertain the number of settlements 
made by Europeans on the former of these 
coasts, and the date of their establishment. On 
his voyage out, after visiting New-Holland 
New-Zealand, and other islands in the South 
seas, Vancouver arrived on the coast of New- 
Albion, in April, 1792. On approaching Nootka 
Sound, he fell in with a ship, commanded by 
Captain Grey, the same person who was said to 
have passed through the Straits of Fuca to an 
extensive sea, in 1789 ; but the American cap- 
tain disavowed the reports of his navigation, 
which had reached Europe. He penetrated, 
he said, only fifty miles to the east-south-east, 
where the Strait was still five miles wide, and 
the natives told him that it afterwards turned to 
4* 



34 VANCOUVER, 

the northward. Vancouver soon entered the 
inlet, and anchored on the first night further 
within it than Captain Grey or any Other 
voyager had as yet penetrated. In his voyage 
thus far, he had examined 215 leagues of coast, 
so closely, that he had seen throughout the surf 
breaking over the shore. On ascending an 
island in the middle of the inlet, he was en- 
chanted with the prospect that met his eye. In 
every direction noble trees were distributed, as 
if in a park, and rose trees in full bloom predo- 
minated among the brushwood. The country 
around appeared fertile, opening in some places 
into large meadows, while in others, especially 
in the main land, it was a wilderness of lofty 
trees, among which the oak was the most con- 
spicuous. The island which forms the western 
boundary of the inlet, and on which Nootka is 
situated, is named Vancouver's or Quadra's Is- 
land, The whole Archipelago, however, was 
called by Vancouver New-Georgia, and to the 
wide inlet he gave the name of the Gulf of 
Georgia, After various other discoveries, and 
completing the survey of the north-west coast 
of America, Vancouver arrived in England 
with the ships and crews under his command, 
in October, 1795, having been four years ab- 
sent in this laborions service. The unceasing 
exertions which Vancouver himself made to 
complete the gigantic task of surveying 9000 
miles of unknown and intricate coasts, a labour 
performed chiefly in open boats, made an inroad 
on his constitution from which he never re» 
covered, and dechning gradually, be died in 



KOTZEBUE, 35 

May, 1T98^ before the last volume of his nar- 
rative was completed for the press. 

kotzebue's discoveries. 

In 1815, a Russian nobleman of large fortune, 
Count Romanzoff, fitted out the Rurick, a small 
vessel of 180 tons, for a voyage of discovery, 
with a crew of twenty men, besides the officers 
and naturalists. He intrusted her to the com- 
mand of Lieutenant Kotzebue, the son of the 
celebrated German writer of that name. Kot- 
zebue sailed from Plymouth in England, in Oc- 
tober, 1815, and in March following, touched at 
Easter Island. In August, 1816, he discovered 
on the American shore, to the north of Behring's 
Straits, a wide opening commencing in lat. 66 
deg. 42 min., long. 164 deg. 14 min. He entered 
this inlet, and in the course of a fortnight, made 
a rapid survey of the coast. He suspected the 
existence of a passage out of it on the south- 
east, communicating perhaps with Norton Sound. 
Another channel seemed to conduct to the west. 
Leaving this inlet, Kotzebue crossed over to 
visit the coast of Asia, and thus lost an oppor- 
tunity of making some important discoveries on 
the northern coast of America. The sea, as 
far as he could descry, was quite free from ice, 
and a steady current set to the eastward. He 
wintered in the Archipelago of the Pacific, that 
includes Nautilus, Chatham, and Calvert Islands. 
Jn the following year, he again sailed to the 
north, to resume his former track, but was met 
by severe gales, in one of which he received an 
injury which aifected his health, and he there- 



36 Eoss. 

fore returned to Europe without making any 
further attempt to penetrate the polar sea. As 
no harbour was previously known on the shores 
of Behring's Straits, the discovery of Kotzebue's 
Inlet, in which good sheker may be found, was 
of great importance, particularly to vessels en- 
gaged in the whale fishery. 

FIRST VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN ROSS. 

The discovery of a north-west passage had 
always been a favourite object of the British na- 
tion. V/hen the late war was at an end it was 
determined to send an expedition to explore 
Baffin's Bay, in hopes that an examination of 
the shores of that great sea, might detect the 
long-wished-for north-west passage. For this 
purpose the Isabella and Alexander were fitted 
out, and placed under the command of Captain 
Ross, an officer well experienced in the naviga- 
tion of those northern seas. The Alexander 
was commanded by Lieutenant Parry, a young 
officer, whose name has since become honour- 
ably associated with north-western discoveries. 
The ships put to sea on the 18th of April, 1818, 
and on their arrival on the western coast of 
Greenland they found great quantities of ice, 
and the Governor of one of the Danish settle- 
ments informed them that the ice was yearly 
growing more abundant. In lat. 75 deg. 54 min. 
when the ships had passed the inhabited parts of 
Greenland, a party of Esquimaux were seen 
approaching the ships over the ice. On being 
questioned about their country they appeared 
not to know anything of the European settle- 



Eoss. 37 

ments in that region, though separated from the 
Oreenlanders by only two degrees. Indeed 
they appeared to think themselves the only 
people in the world. They viewed the ships 
and their crews with the greatest astonishment, 
believing them to have come from the sun or 
the moon. To this tribe Captain Ross gave the 
name of the Arctic Highlanders. A little far- 
ther on, our voyagers saw cliffs covered with 
snow of a deep red colour ; when thawed it had 
the appearance of muddy port wine. Red snow 
had frequently been seen before and observed 
by skilful naturalists in the Alps and Pyrenees ; 
how it attained the red colour had been long 
a subject of doubt among naturalists, but it 
seems now decided that an extremely minute 
lichen (or moss) vegetates upon the snow. 

On descending the western shore of Baffin's 
Bay, toward the south, a great change was ob- 
served, the sea was clear of ice, and extremely 
deep ; its temperature was increased, the land 
was high, and the mountains in general free 
from snow. A noble inlet, 50 miles wide, with 
high land on both sides, now offered itself to 
view. Into this the ships entered on the 29th of 
August, but they had not advanced above thirty 
miles within it, when to the amazement of all the 
officers. Captain Ross made a signal to tack 
about and return. In explanation of this manoeuvre 
he affirmed that he saw land stretching across 
the inlet, at a distance of eight leagues. To the 
imaginary range of hills he gave the name of 
Croker^s Mountains. His officers, who felt confi- 
dent that this great inlet, now recognised as the 



38 PARRsr. 

Sir James Lancaster's Sound of Baffin, was a 
strait communicating with an open sea to the 
westward, were no less mortified than surprised 
on finding that their commander was about to 
leave it without any farther investigation. Cap- 
tain Ross directed his course homeward, and 
arrived in England without any accident. 

parry's first expedition. 

The failure of Captain Ross, so far from dis- 
heartening the advocates of a north-west pas- 
sage, added new particulars in favour of their 
views. Lieutenant. Parry, who sailed with Cap- 
tain Ross, but who dissented from him, as to the 
practicability of a north-west passage, was ap- 
pointed to command an expedition to follow the 
tracks of former navigators, and to proceed as 
far as circumstances rendered practicable. The 
ships sailed from the river Thames on the 5th of 
May, 1819, and on the 15th of June, Cape Fare- 
well, the southern Cape of Greenland, was de- 
scried at a distance of more than 40 leagues. 
The day after they fell in with a number of ice- 
bergs. As they proceeded up Davis' Straits 
and Baffin's Bay, the ice on the westward pre- 
sented a continuous barrier. After much diffi- 
culty the ships reached lat. 73 deg. and Captain 
Parry being unwilling to pass the latitude of Sir 
James Lancaster's Sound, resolved to make a 
desperate effort to penetrate the ice, occupying 
the middle of the inland sea, which was accom- 
plished in seven days, after cutting through an 
accumulation of ice eighty miles in breadth. As 
soon as the western side of this barrier was 



PARRY. 39 

gained, our voyagers found themselves in an open 
sea, free from ice, and also abounding in whales. 
They sailed westward with a fresh breeze, elated 
with the hope that they had now reached the Po- 
lar Sea. They saw land ahead when they had 
reached longitude 83 deg. 12 min., which checked 
any farther progress in that direction. To the 
south a broad inlet ten leagues wide presented 
itself to view. Our navigators entered it, expect- 
ing to find a clearer passage to the westward. 
They had hitherto observed that from the mo- 
ment of entering Lancaster's Sound, the sluggish 
movement of the compass cards, and the irre- 
gularity occasioned by the attraction of the 
ship's irons, had uniformly increased as they 
proceeded westward ; but in descending this in- 
let the compass actually lost the power of mo- 
tion, and they saw for the first time "the curious 
phenomenon of the directive power of the needle 
becoming so weak as to be completely over- 
come by the attraction of the ship ; so that the 
needle might now be properly said to point to 
the north pole of the ship." The inlet in 
which they were proceeding, opened out as they 
advanced southward ; and as the western side 
continually receded to the south-west, their 
hopes of reaching the sea in that direction in- 
creased. The ships had proceeded south 120 
miles from the mouth of this inlet, when the 
great quantities of ice obliged them to return to 
Barrow's Strait, as they named the great inlet of 
which Lancaster's Sound is the mouth. On ar- 
riving here, the sea, which a few days before had 
been covered with ice, Avas now found perfectly 



40 PARRY. 

free, and they were enabled to steer westward. 
On the 22d an opening eight leagues wide was 
seen to the north in longitude 92| deg. which 
they called Wellington Channel, but the ice and 
fogs prevented all attempts to navigate it. They 
however continued to proceed to the westward 
along the shore of a large island which they 
named Bathurst Island. The magnetic obser- 
vations made here compared with those made in 
Prince Regent's Inlet, " led to the conclusion," 
says Captain Sabine, *' that we had, in sailing 
over the space included between these two me- 
ridians, crossed immediately to the northward of 
the magnetic pole, and had undoubtedly passed 
over one of those spots upon the globe where 
the needle would have been found to vary 180 
deg., or in other words, where its north pole 
would have pointed due south. This spot would 
in all probability be found somewhere in the lon- 
gitude of 100 deg, west from Greenwich." Our 
navigator's after discovering Melville Island suc- 
ceeded in passing the longitude of 110 deg. west, 
being farther than any former navigator had ever 
ventured in these seas, and therefore entitling 
them to the reward of £5000 granted them by 
Parliament as the first prize. A projecting 
point of land in this longitude they therefore 
named Bounty Cape. A good roadstead dis- 
covered at no great distance they called the Bay 
of the Hecla and Griper, (after the two ships,) at 
the head of which they found it necessary to 
winter, therefore calling the place Winter Har- 
hour. Soon after they had chosen their winter 
quarters the sun disappeared entirely, and they 



PARRY. 4l 

had now to prepare themselves for a cold te- 
dious winter of nine months. It called forth all 
the energies of the officers to devise means of 
employment and amusement for the men during 
this gloomy season, accordingly hunting was re- 
sorted to, when practicable. To amuse the men, 
Captain Parry and his officers got up a play, to 
the performance of which the sailors testified 
their applause by three hearty cheers. They 
also contributed to a Weekly Paper, entitled the 
North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle, 

The ships were welt furnished with stoves and 
furnaces, and although the thermometer fre- 
quently stood from 30 to 50 deg. below zero, 
the temperature in the cabins, by means of heated 
air, was raised from 50 to 70 deg. above zero. 
On the 7th of February the sun again made his 
appearance, yet this month was by far the cold- 
est part of winter. On the 15th the ther- 
mometer descended to 55 deg. below zero, at 
which time Captain Parry amused himself with 
freezing mercury. It may be supposed that 
these ice-bound prisoners hailed the approach 
of spring with feelings of great delight. On the 
24th of May, a shower of rain cheered them 
with the prospect that they were soon to be re- 
leased. On the first of June Captain Parry 
with some of his officers commenced a survey of 
Melville Island, and discovered its northern ex- 
tremity, without seeing any land either to the 
northward or westward, but an attempt com- 
menced on the first of August to go beyond the 
western end of Melville's Island, was on the 16th 
of the same month given up as impracticable, 
5 



42 PAEEY. 

The farthest point reached in the Polar Sea 
was lat. 74 deg. 26 min. 25 sec. and long. 113 
deg. 46 min. 48 sec. On leaving Sir James 
Lancaster's Sound, the ship coasted along the 
western shore of Baffin's Bay for the purpose of 
observing its coasts, which they found to be in- 
dented with numerous bays and harbours. On 
the 26th of September they steered for England, 
and about the middle of November the crews 
landed at the mouth of the Thames, highly de- 
lighted once more to reach their native shore, 
after an absence of nearly eighteen months. 

parey's second voyage. 

Although the voyage of Captain Parry did 
not lead to the discovery of a north-west passage, 
it induced the belief that he was only prevented 
by the quantities of ice, which occasionally 
break up and allow a free passage. The Hecla 
had answered so well on her former voyage that 
the Fury, a similar ship, was appointed to attend 
her on a second one. Captain Parry was directed 
by his instructions to commence his examination 
of the coast, after he had reached some point 
which he was sure was the continent of America, 
and thence proceeding to the northward, to keep 
along the coast, minutely exploring every inlet 
or opening that occurred, in order to ascertain 
the north-east point of that continent, around 
which it was hoped he might reach the open sea, 
and thus effect his passage round Icy Cape, and 
through Behring's Straits to the Pacific Ocean. 
The ships left the Nore on the 8th of May, 1821, 
and after many impediments from the ice, en- 



PAREY. 43 

tered Hudson's Strait and reached the channel 
formed by Southampton Island and the main 
land, on the 2d of August. Steering still farther 
to the west, Captain Parry entered a bay on the 
eastern side of Southampton Island, which he 
called th© Du^e of York's Bay. Still proceed- 
ing in a northerly direction, a fresh gale from 
the south bore them unawares into Repulse Bay, 
in which not a piece of ice was seen. The sea- 
son was spent in making observations on the 
surrounding coast, and during September, they 
gave names to Lyon^s Inlet, Hoppner's Inlet, 
Gore Bay, Ross Bay, &c. New ice now warned 
them of the approach of winter, and the thermo- 
meter at this time stood at zero. A small island 
presented itself to the north of Lyon's Inlet, 
which they called Winter Island, and being found 
to afford good anchorage on its southern side, 
the ships were here allowed to be frozen up. 
The ships were better furnished than before 
with conveniences for a long arctic winter. The 
same expedients were resorted to in this voyage 
as in the preceding one, for the entertainment 
of the crews. A school was also established in 
each ship, from which the men derived equal pro- 
fit and entertainment. The evenings were spent 
in music and theatrical entertainments. But 
what chiefly contributed to relieve the tedious- 
ness of a long and gloomy winter, was a visit from 
a party of Esquimaux, who were seen approach- 
ing the ships across the ice on the first of Feb- 
ruary. These people invited our voyagers to 
their huts, where they were surprised at finding 
them furnished with canoes, sledges, and dogs, 



44 PARRY. 

and every thing as permanently fixed as if they 
had occupied the same spot the whole winter. 
In the construction of these huts not a single 
material was used but snow and ice. After 
creeping through two lower passages, each hav- 
ing its arched door-way, they came to a small 
circular apartment, of which the roof was a per- 
fect arched dome. From this, three door-ways 
also arched, and of larger dimensions than the 
outer ones, led into as many inhabited apart- 
ments, one on each side and the other facing 
them as they entered. The interior of these 
presented a scene no less novel than interesting ; 
the women were seated on their beds at the sides 
of their huts, each having her little fire-place or 
lamp, with all her domestic utensils about her. 
The construction of this inhabited part of the hut 
was similar to that of the outer apartment, being 
a dome, formed by separate blocks of snow laid 
with great regularity, and no small art, each be- 
ing cut into the shape requisite to form a sub- 
stantial arch, from seven to eight feet high in the 
centre, and having no support whatever but 
what this principle of building supplies. Suffi- 
cient light was admitted into these curious edi- 
fices, by a circular window of ice, neatly fitted 
into the roof of each apartment. In their cha- 
racter these Esquimaux appear to be inofi?ensive 
and remarkably honest, and unlike most savage 
countries their women are exempted from the 
labour and drudgery, being confined to making 
clothes, cooking, and other domestic concerns. 
The Esquimaux exhibited in most things an ex- 
treme deficiency in intellect, for few of them 



PARRY. 45 

Could count beyond five. One of the tribe, a 
woman named lligluick, was a wonderful excep- 
tion to the rest, indeed she manifested such 
marks of intelligence as immediately to attract 
the attention of her visiters. She had a natural 
taste for music, sang sweetly herself, and would 
sit for hours together and listen to performances 
' on an organ. She drew a chart of that part of 
the coast with which she was familiar, and the 
neighbouring islands. The information thus re- 
ceived was confirmed by other Esquimaux, who 
were requested to draw charts of the countries 
within their own knowledge ; their delineations 
of the coast made without any concert agreed in 
a surprising manner. 

Spring made its appearance at Winter Island 
more tardily if possible than at Melville Island, 
although the former place was situated 8| de- 
grees farther to the south. After having spent 
nine months in this dreary abode, the ships on 
the 2d of July, after great difficulty, effected an 
escape ; but a current setting to the southward 
down Fox's channel, which they now proceeded 
to examine, carried with it such vast quantities 
of ice. as involved them in continual danger. By 
unremitting perseverance, however, they reach, 
ed, by the 12th of July, a small opening in the land 
in lat. 67 deg. 18 min., out of which a current 
was observed to issue. As this offered a security 
against the ice. Captain Parry and his officers 
went on shore to examine the country, and found 
to their great delight, bright green hills, and sil- 
ver streams leaping from crag to crag, which 
had just escaped from their icy cells and were 
5* 



46 PARRr. 

melting away before the genial influence of the 
returning sun. The information which they had 
received from the Esquimaux was found to co- 
incide with their discoveries. Our voyagers 
now approached the place where the Esquimaux, 
whose statement had proved to be correct, had 
marked a strait conducting to the western sea. 
Up this strait it was their intention to sail, but to 
their great disappointment, they found an impe- 
netrable barrier of ice, evidently not of recent 
formation, thus leaving no hopes of future suc- 
cess. After struggling sixty-five days to force 
a passage to the westward, they returned as far 
back as the island of Iloolik, where they were 
frozen in on the 30th of October. The weather, 
at this season, was intensely cold, the thermome- 
ter standing at one time nine degrees below 
zero. The crews did not as cheerfully submit to 
the necessity of spending another winter in these 
frozen regions, as in the preceding voyage ; for 
those means which had been resorted to on for- 
mer occasions, to keep alive the spirits of the 
sailors, seemed to have lost their novelty, and 
although no discontents arose, it required all 
the skill and ability of the officers to preserve 
animation among the crews, a very essential 
antidote to the scurvy. They found employ- 
ment when the weather would permit, in erect- 
ing a snow wall around the ships, thus adding to 
their comfort by keeping out snow drift, and 
forming a shelter from the northern blasts. This 
art had been taught them by the Esquimaux, 
whose company not a little contributed to enliven 
the tedious monotony of the scene. The officers 



PARRY. 47 

made excursions on both sides of the strait, which 
Captain Parry named the Strait of the Hecla and 
Fury. In its narrowest part it is two miles 
across, forming a canal of nearly uniform width, 
and about three miles in length. The land on 
the south or continental side, is a great penin- 
sula, called by Captain Parry, Melville Penin- 
sula. The land on the north, he named Cock- 
burn Island, Some of the officers made an ex- 
cursion of about sixty miles to the western side 
of this island, and discovered a Polar Sea, 
stretching far to the westward, and thej were in- 
formed by the Esquimaux (whose geographical 
information had in so many cases proved cor- 
rect) that it v/as surrounded by water, but the 
mountains of ice, with which the strait v/as con- 
tinually closed up, left no hope that it could 
ever be navigated. 

It was not until the 12th of August that Cap= 
tain Parry found himself released from his icy 
prison, and once more sailing in an unfrozen sea, 
which was effected by sawing a canal through 
the ice for the ships to pass through of four or 
five miles in length, an arduous task, which no- 
thing but impatience of confinement could have 
induced them to attempt. The sea seen to the 
west of Cockburn Island was believed by the 
officers to communicate with Hudson's Bay by 
the Strait of the Hecla and Fury, and unwilling 
to return without completing the object of his 
voyage, Captain Parry conceived the bold design 
of unlading the Hecla of her stores, and remain- 
ing in the Fury to spend another winter in the 
ice, and prosecute his passage the ensuing sea- 



48 PAERY. 

son. This scheme was frustrated by the appear- 
ance of scurvy among the sailors, when the 
dread of having to contend with this formidable 
disease induced Captain Parry to renounce his 
attempt, and proceed with all possible haste to 
England. On the 10th of October 1823, the 
ships arrived at Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, 
and in a few days arrived at the mouth of the 
Thames. 

Although in these two voyages Captain Parry 
had been unsuccessful as to the main object of 
his missions, yet certainly they have added much 
to our knowledge of i\.rctic Geography ; and 
considering the difficulties and dangers he had 
to encounter, may be considered as wonderfully 
successful. The perseverance of this accom- 
plished navigator, has earned for him a fame 
which will ever rank his voyages among the 
most brilliant achievements ever undertaken in 
any age, and will transmit his name to posterity 
the wonder and delight of succeeding genera- 
tions. 

parry's third voyage. 

The prospect of a passage beyond the western 
extremity of Melville Island was now aban- 
doned, as the ice which prevented Captain 
Parry in his first voyage from penetrating that 
sea seemed to be of a permanent nature, but the 
frozen masses he had observed in Prince Re- 
gent's Inlet seemed to be accidental accumu- 
lations, which disappear instantaneously by 
change of wind and other circumstances. This 
pass extending south-west Captain Parry sup- 



PAERY. 49 

posed had a communication with the sea to the 
west of Coekburn Island, and he conceived that 
by reaching this strait early in the season, he 
might find the ice breaking, which would insure 
him an uninterrupted course to the great sea 
bounding the northern coast of America. Such 
confidence was placed in this opinion of Captain 
Parry that he was a third time fitted out with the 
Hecla and Fury, the former commanded by him- 
self, the latter by Lieutenant Hoppner. In this, 
the least successful of Captain Parry's voyages, 
he was thwarted by a continued series of mis- 
fortunes. He left England on the 19th of May, 
1824, and by the middle of June was in Davis's 
Straits, but was so embarrassed with ice in at- 
tempting to navigate Hudson's Bay that it v/as 
with the greatest difficulty he reached Port 
Bowen at the mouth of Prince Regent's Inlet. 
To his great mortification he found the season 
too far advanced ; had he arrived three weeks 
earlier, which he would have done had his voy- 
age been propitious, he believed the passage 
might have been effected. The winter was 
spent at Port Bowen, where the amusements to 
beguile the dulness of the scene were similar to 
those resorted to at Melville Island and at Iloo- 
lik. The men were occupied in school, and 
amused with masquerades. Experience had 
suggested such improvements in the art of 
warming the ships that they were enabled to 
keep up a temperature of from 50 to 60 degrees. 
By the 12th of July the ice began to break 
up, a signal for our voyagers ta commence ac 
live operations. Attempting to coast along the 



50 PASEr. 

western shore of the bay their progress was im- 
peded by a continuous barrier of ice; and in a. 
fruitless attempt to penetrate to the southward, 
the Fury was so injured by gales of wind and 
broken ice, as to render her unmanageable ; she 
was therefore abandoned with all her stores, 
and the officers and men embarked in the Hecla 
for England. Captain Parry did not proceed as 
far down Regent's Inlet as he had done in his 
first voyage. 

parry's fourth voyage. 

Thus disappointed in his sanguine expecta- 
tions of a north-west passage, Captain (now Sir 
Edward) Parry turned his enterprising views in 
another direction, and conceived the bold design 
of penetrating the frozen sea to the North Pole. 

Uniting his own views with those of Mr. 
Scoresby, who had, in 1806, approached nearly 
to the 82d degree of latitude, b)'- the way of 
Spitzbergen, he believed this might be effected 
by employing light boats and sledges, which 
might be alternately employed according as 
compact fields of ice or open sea interposed. 
The Royal Society recommended it to the Ad- 
miralty, who again fitted out the Hecla, and 
placed her under the command of Captain Parry. 
Two boats were constructed combining in the 
highest degree the requisite qualities of strength 
and lightness ; they were covered with v/ater- 
proof canvas, and lined with felt ; runners were 
also placed under them on each side of the keel, 
that they might be used for sledges, as occasion 
might require. The adventurers sailed on the 



PASRY. 



5l 



27th of March, 1827, and entered the harbour 
of Hammerfest in Norway, where they took on 
board eight reindeer with sufficient quantity of 
moss for iheir provender. Much time was lost 
in working the ship to the north ; where they 
found their passage so impeded by huge and 
irregular masses of ice thrown promiscuously 
together by violent gales and commotions in the 
sea that the ships was exposed to the most immi- 
nent danger. When at length they had pro- 
ceeded as far as their ship would carry them, she 
was fixed in a good harbour, and on the 22d of 
June our adventurers commenced their extra- 
ordinary journey. From the rugged and broken 
nature of the ice, which was no where seen in 
compact fields, it was necessary to relinquish 
the design of employing reindeer. It required 
a zeal little short of enthusiasm, to undergo vo- 
luntarily the toil of this expedition. AVhen the 
travellers arrived at a pool of water in the ice, 
they were obliged to launch their boats and em- 
bark. On reaching the opposite side their boats 
were then to be dragged frequently up steep and 
dangerous clifi's of ice, their lading being first 
removed. In this laborious process they were 
able to effect but eight miles in five days. They 
travelled only during the night, by that means 
avoiding the danger of snow-blindness. On the 
22d of July they advanced seventeen miles, the 
greatest distance they had yet been able to 
effect in one day, but the delays they had 
already encountered were sufficient to destroy 
all hopes of being able to reach the pole, still 
500 miles distant. They had advanced as far 



52 FRANKLIN. 

as 83 deg. 40 min. north, and now limited their 
ambition to reaching the parallel of 83 deg., but 
the wind from the north bore them, with the 
drifting fields of ice, in an opposite direction, so 
that they found themselves fourteen miles farther 
to the south than the spot they had occupied on 
the 22d. It seemed obviously vain, under these 
circumstances, to persist any longer. Our voy- 
agers returned, therefore, and arrived at Hecla 
Cove in the Island of Spitzbergen on the 21st 
of August, with the consolation that if they had 
not reached the pole, they had advanced one de- 
gree farther to the north than any former navi- 
gator of complete authenticity. 

CAPTAIN franklin's FIRST JOURNEY. 

During Captain Parry's voyages to the north- 
west to explore a passage to the Pacific Ocean, 
another expedition was fitted out to commence 
an over-land journey to ascertain the true posi- 
tion of the Coppermine River, and of the windings 
of the shore to the eastward of it. It had for its 
object a desire for geographical researches, and 
also to ascertain, if possible, the limit of that 
sea, which north-west navigators had so long 
vainly endeavored to penetrate. Lieutenant 
(now Captain) Franldin was intrusted with the 
care of the expedition, accompanied by Doctor 
Richardson, a distinguished naturalist, Mr. Hood, 
Mr. Back, two midshipmen, and two English 
seamen. Captain Franklin and his companions 
embarked from England in May, 1819, and 
landed safely at York Factory in August. 

They immediately commenced making prepa=. 



FRANKLIN. 53 

rations for their long aod tedious journey, having 
collected all the information they could gain 
from the fur traders, who had made long jour- 
neys westward for traffic. On the 9th of Sep- 
tember, the journey was commenced from York 
Fort, and on the 22d of October, our travellers 
arrived at Cumberland House, a distance of 690 
miles. The lateness of the season did not 
deter Captain Franklin from forcing his way to 
Fort Chippewayan, at the western extremity of 
Athabasca Lake, in order that he might person- 
ally superintend the preparations for the ensuing 
summer. He accordingly set out with Mr. Back, 
on the 18th of January, and arrived at the Fort 
on the 26th of March, thus performing a journey 
of 857 miles in the very depth of winter, the 
thermometer descending to 40, and frequently 
to 50 degrees below zero. To persons unused 
to the severities of arctic cHmates, these state- 
ments would appear almost incredible, yet we 
are induced to believe that they are not exag- 
gerated when we reflect that those journeys 
could never have been eftected without all that 
exposure to the extreme cold which these cli- 
mates are subject to. When the navigable 
rivers were frozen, they travelled on the ice 
in sledges drawn by dogs, and at night they 
slept in the open air, wrapt in their furs, with 
their dogs lying round them to keep off cold, 
and also to emit warmth. Their greatest dread 
in these expeditions was that of perishing for 
want of food. When violent snow storms arise, 
the travellers often lose their way, and are 
obliged sometimes to kill their dogs to prevent 
6 



54 FRANKLIN. 

them from dying of hunger. The moose, the 
reindeer, and the bison, appear to be quite ex- 
pelled from the great plains between Hudson's 
Bay and the Mackenzie's River, and furred 
animals are likewise so scarce, that they will 
probably be extinct in a few years, east of the 
Rocky Mountains. The Indians, as well as the 
beasts, appear to be rapidly dwindling away be- 
forethe face of European population. Disease, 
engendered by the too free use of spirituous 
liquors, has gradually swept away their numbers, 
so that the once powerful Knisienax, who spread 
over an extent of country 20,000 miles square, 
will not at present exceed 500 in number, and 
a very rational conclusion at this rate would be 
that they will, ere long, be extinguished from the 
face of the earth. 

As soon as spring made its appearance, Mr. 
Hood and Dr. Richardson set forward to join 
their companions at Fort Chippevvayan. It may 
naturally be concluded that spring in these cli- 
mates is hailed with a joyful welcome, when 
every object that m&ets the eye has for a period 
of eight months been clad with the snowy garb 
of winter. In fact, this period scarcely deserves 
the name of Spring, as that season is here 
almost entirely unknown, so rapidly do the 
snows melt away, the rivers begin to flow, the 
birds to sing, and vegetation to deck the face of 
nature aroun(| them. It seems more like a 
sudden transition from one region to another, 
than the regular interchange of the seasons 
with which our climate is so agreeably diversi- 
fied. The whole party were now assembled at 



FRANKLIN. 55 

Chippewayan, and on the 18th of July, 1820, 
set forward on their journey, indulging the 
hope that before the warm season should expire, 
they might find comfortable quarters at the 
mouth of the Coppermine River^ and in the ensu- 
ing spring they might commence an examination 
of the coast to the eastward. But the usual diffi- 
culties attending such undertakings, prevented 
their anticipations from being fully realized. 
The rapids of the rivers, the shallows of the 
lakes, and the numerous portages from one por- 
tion of water to another, impeded the progress 
of our travellers so much that they began to 
suffer for want of provisions, and, in conse- 
quence, great discontent was manifested by the 
Canadian boatmen, unhappily marring the cor. 
diality which ought to subsist among all engaged 
in so hazardous an enterprise. By the 20rh of 
August, new ice began to appear, and birds 
were seen flying to the south, an unequivocal sign 
of approaching winter. The Canadian hunters 
declared that it would be impossible to proceed, 
and Captain Franklin was obliged to forego the 
prospect of reaching the mouth of the Copper- 
mine the present season, and the party began 
to make preparations for winter quarters, at a 
spot which they had now reached, distant 550 
miles from Chippewayan. On an elevation 
Bear the bank of a stream to which they gave 
the name of Winter River, the Canadians con- 
structed a house, calling it Fort Enterprise, in 
lat. 64 deg. 28 min. long. 113 deg. 6 min. As 
soon as our travellers and their retinue were 
settled in their winter quarters, they began to 



56 FBANKLIN. 

employ themselves in laying up stores of pro- 
visions for their sustenance during the period of 
their stay here. They accordingly sallied forth 
in quest of reindeer, whose flesh is so palatable 
converted into dried meat, and in the course of 
their rambles not fewer than 180 were taken ; 
but this apparently bountiful stock was barely 
sufficient to sustain the party, and the train of 
Indians who crowded to the fort to live on the 
charity of the whites. As their ammunition and 
other stores had not arrived from the south, Mr. 
Back, attended by some Canadians and Indians, 
set out on the 18th of October to return to Chip- 
pewayan, and after an absence of five months 
arrived at Fort Enterprise, after having expe- 
rienced the severest hardships. Their journey 
of 1104 miles was performed in snow-shoes on 
foot, a mode of travelling indescribably painful, 
and having, no covering at night but blankets 
and deer-skins. The thermometer frequently 
was at 40 deg. and at one time 59 deg. below 
zero ; and to add to their sufferings, they had 
sometimes to travel two or three days without 
tasting food. Those who remained at Fort En- 
terprise suffered nearly as much from the cold, 
the thermometer at one time indicating a tem- 
perature three degrees colder than any that 
Captain Parry experienced at Melville Island, 
which is nine degrees nearer the pole. Two 
Esquimaux interpreters from Hudson's Bay 
accompanied Mr. Hood to Fort Enterprise, 
where they taught our adventurers the art of 
building snow houses, which they contended 
were warmer and more agreeable than those 



FRANKLIN. 57 

made of wood. The officers spent their winter 
in drawing and writing their journals, and were 
not a Httle entertained with the opportunity- 
afforded them of studying the Indian character. 
The old chief of the Copper Indians had a 
daughter, who was so celebrated a beauty among 
her tribe that she had already belonged to two 
husbands, although scarcely sixteen years old. 
Mr. Hood amused himself with drawing her 
likeness ; great was her mother's anxiety, who 
feared the chief of their country might after 
seeing the portrait insist on having the original. 
It was the 14th of June, 1821 , before the ice was 
sufficiently broken up in the Coppermine to al- 
low our travellers to navigate it in canoes. Their 
stock of provisions was at this time nearly ex- 
hausted, which compelled them to the necessity 
of hunting for a subsistence. The grassy plains 
on either side of the Coppermine abounded with 
game, but when compelled to exertion the hunt- 
ers exhibited great symptoms of insubordina- 
tion. On the 18th of July our travellers reached 
the mouth of the Coppermine River, and here 
the Indians, terrified at the thoughts of meeting 
the Esquimaux, with whom they carried on a 
continual warfare, determined to return. The 
Canadians, though elated at once with a view of 
the sea, were terrified with the thoughts of 
launching in it. It required much pains to pre- 
vent them from sinking into despondency, and 
certainly it did require more than ordinary cou- 
rage to embark at so late a season upon so pe- 
rilous a sea. On the 21st of July twenty people, 
fifteen of whom had never seen salt water, 
6* 



58 FRANKLIN. 

launched on the Polar Sea in two bark canoes^ 
with provisions for only 15 days, and a voyage 
before them of indefinite extent. The farthest 
point which our navigators reached was Point 
Turnagain, in lat. 68|^. The passage between 
this point and Cape Barrow, Captain Franklin 
named George the Fourth'' s Coronation Gulf. 
Captain Franklin found it impossible to proceed 
any farther, since his provisions began to fail, and 
determined to proceed up Hood's River at the 
foot of Coronation Gulf, as far as it was naviga- 
ble, and then to strike across the country to Fort 
Enterprise, instead of retracing his course to 
the Coppermine River as he had originally in- 
tended. The sufferings of the travellers during 
this journey were exceedingly painful. Severe 
storms of snow impeded their progress, and the 
sun being hid, which prevented their making 
celestial observations, compelled them to grope 
their way through an unknown country ; and to 
add to their distress, famine attended them, from 
the want of opportunities to hunt for game. Du- 
ring a journey of three weeks they had only 
sustenance sufficient to last them five days, and 
were therefore compelled to the necessity of 
feeding upon lichens ; but even this unpalatable 
weed was found in such small quantities, that they 
had to pass some days without a meal. On the 
26th of September, when they arrived at the banks 
of the Coppermine, the weather had become 
more mild, game had become more plentiful, 
and hope once more cheered our travellers with 
the prospect of a tolerable degree of comfort ; 
but this flattering prospect soon changed its ap- 



FEANKLIN. 59 

pearance, for having crossed the river, the wea- 
ther, which had before been mild, now began to 
resume its severity. It was now the 4th of Oc- 
tober, Fort Enterprise was forty miles off, their 
provisions were entirely exhausted, and they 
were now in the most deplorable condition ; their 
strength fast declining, from famine, cold, and 
intense anxiety. Mr. Back and some Cana- 
dians hastened forward, with the hope of meeting 
a band of Indian hunters in the neighbourhood 
of Fort Enterprise. A few days after Captain 
Franklin with seven of the party proceeded on« 
ward, leaving Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood to 
take care of those v/ho were unable to proceed. 
They were then twenty-four miles from Fort 
Enterprise when this separation took place. 
Four of those who set out with Captain Franklin 
left him in the course of his journey, being un- 
able to proceed, but Michael, an Iroquois, re- 
turned to Dr. Richardson's party, the other three 
were heard of no more. Captain Franklin 
reached the fort on the 11th of October com- 
pletely exhausted, not having tasted any food 
for five days, and to his utter dismay he found 
the fort entirely deserted, not a morsel of pro- 
visions, and the ground covered with snow. He 
left his cabin and set out in quest of the In- 
dians, that he might proceed to the relief of Dr. 
Richardson's party, but his strength failed him 
in the attempt, and he was obliged to return to 
his desolate abode. Eighteen days passed over 
him in this miserable condition, with no other 
food than the bones and skins of some animals 
that had been killed the year before, made into 



60 FRANKLIX. 

a kind of soup ; when, on the 29th of October, 
] >r. Richardson and John Hepburn made their 
appearance, but without the rest of the party. 
Dr. Richardson had now a mel .ncholy tale to 
relate. For the first two daysr his party had 
nothing whatever to eat. On the third day, 
Michael arrived with a hare and partridge ; 
then another day passed without food. On the 
11th Michael offered them some flesh, which 
he said was part of a wolf, but they were after- 
wards convinced that it was the flesh of one of 
the unfortunate men who had left Captain Frank- 
lin's party to return to Dr. Richardson. Michael 
was growing daily more shy. and it was strongly 
suspected that he had hidden a supply of meat 
for his own use. On the 20tb, while Hepburn 
was cutting wood near the tent, he heard the re- 
port of a gun, and looking towards the spot, saw 
Michael dart into the tent. Mr. Hood was found 
dead ; a ball had entered the back part of his 
head, and there could be no doubt but Michael 
was the murderer. He now became more mis- 
trustful and outrageous than before, and as his 
strength exceeded any of the rest, and being 
w^ell armed too, there seemed no safety but in 
his death. " I determined," says Dr. Richard- 
son, " on taking the whole responsibility on my- 
self, and immediately on Michael's coming up, 
I put an end to his life by shooting him through 
the head." They employed six days in coming 
24 miles, and existed on lichens and the skin 
cloak of Mr. Hood. On the evening of the 29th 
they came in sight of the fort, and were de- 
lighted to see the smoke issuing from the chim- 



FHAxNKLIN. 61 

ney, but the absence of footsteps in the snow 
filled them with gloomy forebodings, which were 
not abated on entering the miserable cabin. 
Two days after the arrival of Dr. Richardson 
two of the Indians who accompanied Captain 
Franklin died of want. The only remaining 
man, and the Captain himself, were so reduced, 
that a few hours would in all likelihood have 
terminated their existence. Dr. Richardson 
and Hepburn felt themselves also rapidly de- 
clining, Avhen, on the 7th of November, three 
Indians, sent by Mr. Back, brought the long 
expected relief. The Indians attended to the 
famished travellers with a kindness well worthy 
of civilized communities. When the party had 
acquired a little strength, they left the fort, and 
proceeded to the nearest of the Company's 
posts, where they met with their companion, 
Mr. Back, to whose resolution and physical 
strength the expedition owed its future success 
and its ultimate safety. The results of this 
journey, which, including the navigation along 
the coast, extended to 5500 miles, are obviously 
of the greatest importance to geography. As 
the coast running northward was followed to 
Cape Turnagain, in lat. 68^ deg. it is evident 
that if a north-west passage exist, it must be 
found beyond this limit. The officers of the 
expedition had many opportunities during their 
residence at Fort Enterprise of studying the 
phenomena, electrical, magnetic, and atmos- 
pheric, which accompany the aurora borealis. 
This meteor it appears is more vivid and fre- 
quent in the neighbourhood of the arctic circle 



62 FRANKLIN. 

than in higher latitudes. It was concluded from 
a vast number of experiments, that the magnetic 
needle was affected by the aurora under certain 
circumstances. The observations of the offi- 
cers also led them to conclude, that the aurora, 
instead of being beyond the region of the at- 
mosphere, is rarely at a height exceeding six or 
seven miles. In travelling through the valleys 
which intersect the Copper Mountains, Dr. 
Richardson picked up some plates of native 
copper, various ores of the same metal, and 
trap rock associated with it. Some ice chisels 
formed of pure copper were afterwards found 
among the Esquimaux. The sustenance af- 
forded by the provisions which the Indians had 
thus timely brought to the miserable party at 
Fort Enterprise, soon recruited their emaciated 
frames, and in the May following they again 
set out on their journey homeward, and reached 
York Fort on Hudson's Bay, after a journey of 
5550 miles. 



The hardships endured in the late expedition 
would have deterred men less courageous than 
Captain Franklin and his companions from en- 
gaging in another similar enterprise ; but at the 
time when government sent out Captain Parry 
to seek a north-west passage by way of Regent's 
Inlet, Captain Franklin offered himself to under- 
take a journey for the purpose of surveying the 
coast westward of Mackenzie's River. By 
dearly bought experience he had learned to pro- 
vide against those evils which his former expe- 



FRA^KLI]S•. 63 

dition was subject to, and having forwarded 
agents to the Hudson's Bay Company, for the pur- 
pose of laying in a store of provisions, Captain 
Franklin, Dr. Richardson, Mr. Back, and Mr. 
Kendal, proceeded, in 1825, by the way of New- 
York. Boats had been constructed and forward- 
ed in 1824, with the baggage and stores, to 
proceed into the interior trom Hudson's Bay. 
Their instructions directed them to form their 
winter establishments in the neighbourhood of 
Great Bear Lake, and in the spring of 1826 to 
proceed down the Mackenzie's River. At the 
mouth of this river the travellers v/ere to sepa- 
rate ; Captain Franklin and Mr. Back to go 
westward, to endeavour to reach Kotzebue's In- 
let, where they might expect to reach the Blos- 
som frigate, commanded by Captain Beechey ; 
Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kendal v/ere at the 
same time to proceed to the east, to examine the 
line of coast between the mouths of the Macken- 
zie and Coppermine. The officers having 
proceeded by the way of New-York, Niagara, 
and Lake Superior, overtook the boats in Mythe 
River on the 29th of June, 1825. This spot is 
situated near the head waters of the rivers that 
flow into Hudson's Bay, in lat. 56 deg. 10 min. 
long. 108 deg. 55 min. The officers had tra- 
veiled 2800 miles and the boats 1200, before 
they met together. Our travellers had an easy 
pissage down the Mackenzie, although their 
view was occasionally impeded by the smoke of 
woods on fire. In lat. 62 deg. stands Fort 
Simpson, at the confluence of the Mackenzie 
and the River of the Mountains, descending from 



64 FRANKLIN. 

the west. By this river the traders procure 
provisions, and other articles, among which po- 
tatoes are brought in abundance, the cultivation 
of this useful vegetable having been success- 
fully introduced into this forbidding climate. 
The Mackenzie here widens into a majestic 
stream of two miles in width. Our travellers 
were now at no great distance from Great Bear 
Lake, and as the season was likely to be fa- 
vourable five or six weeks, it was resolved that 
Captain Franklin and Mr. Kendal should de- 
scend the river to the sea and survey its mouth, 
by which they might abridge the operations of 
the ensuing summer. Dr. Richardson was at 
the same time to examine the east side of Great 
Bear Lake, while Mr. Back was directed to 
make preparations for the approaching winter. 
A few miles above Bear Lake River and near 
its mouth, the banks of the Mackenzie contain 
much good coal, which was on fire in 1825, as 
it had been observed by Mackenzie in his voy- 
age to the sea. The scenery on the banks of 
the Mackenzie is beautifully romantic ; in one 
place it passes through a defile of rocks seven 
miles in length, and sometimes 150 feet high. 
These rocks are worn by the streams falling 
over them into the river, and assume the most 
fantastic shapes, resembling churches, steeples, 
and Gothic arches. On the 10th of August, 
Captain Franklin arrived at Fort Good Hope, 
the lowest of the Company's establishments, 
situated in lat. 67 deg. 28 min. 21 sec. and 
long» 130 deg, 51 min. 38 sec. This fort was 
established for the purpose of carrying on trade 



FRANKLIN. 65 

with the Indians. On approaching the sea, 
Captain Franklin embarked upon that element, 
and found the water quite fresh near the shore, 
but at a distance where he lost sight of the main 
land, he saw an island, on which he landed, and 
here the water was found to be decidedly salt. 
The sea to the north appeared to be quite free 
from ice, and seals and whales were seen sport- 
ing on its surface. On this island the flag-staff 
was hoisted, in case that Captain Parry on en- 
tering that sea might pass the island. Captain 
Franklin wrote two letters describing his voy- 
age, one of which he placed at the foot of the 
flag-staff, and the other was sent afloat upon the 
sea, enclosed in a water proof box, which al- 
though directed to Captain Parry, he appears 
never to have been the wiser for. This island, 
situated in lat. 69 deg. 20 min. long. 1.35 deg. 
41 min. Captain Franklin named Garry Island, 
Captain Franklin's discoveries agree so nearly 
with those of his predecessor Mackenzie, who 
had first discovered this sea and the river which 
bears his name, that he seems now to be relied 
on as an authentic narrator, although before the 
corroborations of Franklin, much doubt was 
thrown over his calculations. Having examined 
satisfactorily the mouth of the Mackenzie, our 
travellers commenced their return ; and it de- 
serves to be noticed, that towards the latter part 
of August the weather was quite warm, the ther- 
mometer standing at 66 deg. in the shade, and 
at 76 deg. when exposed to the sun. This ele- 
vation to us, v/ould seem nothing more than a 
pleasant temperature, but these hardy adven- 
7 



66 FRANKLIN, 

turers, who could buffet the rigours of a polar 
winter, would feel such an atmosphere quite de- 
bilitating. The mountains in the neighbour- 
hood of Mackenzie's River were of great eleva- 
tion, and some of them exceedingly romantic in 
appearance. Captain Franklin and his party 
arrived at their winter quarters on Great Bear 
Lake on the 5th of September, to which the offi- 
cers in his absence had given the name oi^ Fort 
Franklin. Dr. Richardson had previously re- 
turned from his expedition, having performed 
his journey much to his satisfaction, and fixed 
upon the place to which the eastern expedition 
should direct their steps, on their return from 
the Coppermine River the following season. 
Their dwellings at Fort Franklin were comforta- 
bly constructed, and the winter passed away 
very agreeably, considering the privations they 
must necessarily have experienced so far from 
their own homes. The officers employed much 
of their time in drawing and writing their jour- 
nals, and the men were occupied in a school, 
taught by the officers. After the ground had 
become completely covered with snow, taking 
excursions in sledges drawn by dogs was a fa- 
vourite amusement. In April warm weather 
commenced, though the ground was still covered 
with snow ; and Dr. Richardson and Mr. Ken- 
dal completed the survey of Great Bear Lake, 
while the men at the fort were employed in 
building a large bout. On the 22d of June the 
whole party embarked, to fulfil the great object 
of their expedition. The weather was now 
warm, the thermometer standing at 71 deg. in 



FSANKLIN. 67 

the shade, C>n the 4th of July they reached the 
fork where the mouths of the Mackenzie separate 
to run east and west. This point they named 
Point Separation, Our adventurers separated 
into two parties, one to proceed towards the east 
and the other to the west ; forming a striking 
contrast with the preceding voyage. Now, in- 
stead of a light bark canoe, they were launched 
in safe, well built boats, and furnished with three 
month's provisions. Captain Franklin's party 
had gained the sea and entered a wide bay, on 
the shores of which they perceived a party of 
Esquimaux. These came out to meet them in 
great numbers in canoes, and seemed highly 
pleased when they learned from the interpreter 
that the object of the whites was to traffic with 
the Indians. Their direction was now to the 
north-west, but their progress was soon arrested 
by large quantities of ice, and as the season 
when it breaks up had now arrived, they found 
it necessary to repair to the shore to wait for 
the ice to disappear. They were here met by 
another party of Esquimaux, who had never be- 
fore seen the face of a white man. They in- 
formed our travellers that as soon as the wind 
should blow from the shore, the ice would dis- 
appear, and afford a free passage for the boats, 
but farther to the westward the ice often re- 
mains during the whole year, and when it does 
break away, it is carried but a short distance 
from the shore, so that a strong wind would 
drive it back again. As soon as the ice would 
permit, our voyagers again put to sea, and 
reached an island which Captain Franklin 



68 FRANKLIN. 

named in honour of the astronomer HerscheL 
Here again they met with Esquimaux, who 
were found with knives and other iron instru- 
ments, and when interrogated as to the way in 
which they procured them, they repUed that 
they received them from a tribe of Esquimaux 
who lived to the westward, and who carried on 
a traffic with some white people who lived still 
farther to the west. Hence the conclusion that 
the white people alluded to are the Russian 
traders near the coast of the Pacific. In pro- 
secuting their voyage westward they had many 
difficulties to encounter from thick fogs and 
broken ice. A large river flowing into the sea 
in long. 141 deg. separating Russian from Bri- 
tish America they called Clarence River, and 
another still further to the west received the 
name of Canning River, The farthest point 
which it was found practicable to reach they 
called Return Point, and 15 miles farther west, 
a promontory which they descried, they named 
Point Beechey, in lat. 70 deg. 24 min. N. Ion. 
149- deg. 31 min. W. The ice preventing any 
farther progress in a westerly direction, and 
fearing to endanger the lives of his companions, 
as the season was far advanced, on the 18th of 
August, 1826, Captain Franklin thought it pru- 
dent to retrace their way towards the Macken- 
zie, and return to Fort Franklin, which they 
reached on the 21st of September, having ac- 
complished in three months a voyage of 2048 
miles, and traced the shore to. the west of 
Mackenzie's River a distance of 374 miles. A 



FRANKLIN. 69 

river near the mouth of the Mackenzie, empty, 
ing into the sea, was named PeeVs River. 

The progress ©f Dr. Richardson's party to 
the eastward was attended with much less diffi- 
culty. He was favoured with a current from 
the eastward, and had a bolder shore and deeper 
water to sail in. In their way they also met 
with a party of Esquimaux, who, contrary to ac- 
counts, were quite inoffensive, except on one 
occasion they attempted to seize the boats, but 
desisted on being presented with fire-arms. Dr. 
Richardson received from these people an ac- 
count of a great lake extending about 150 miles 
from east to west, at no great distance from the 
shore, and about 140 miles from north to south. 
Esquimaux Lake, as this sheet of water is 
called, communicates with the Mackenzie, be- 
sides receiving two other large streams. Dr. 
Richardson's party followed the shores of two 
extensive bays, which he named Liverpool and 
Franklin Bays. As they approached the estu- 
ary of the Coppermine, land was descried to 
the north, and as they advanced they found it 
unconnected with the main shore, from which 
it was separated by a channel of from 12 to 20 
miles wide. This island received the name of 
Wollaston Land, The length of coast examined 
between the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers 
was 902 miles. Success attended every part of 
the eastern expedition, and on the 1st of Septem- 
ber the adventurers arrived at Fort Franklin. 

The number of miles travelled by both par- 
ties of the expedition, from their landing in 
America until their embarkation for England, 



70 FRANKLIN. 

is 14,185 miles. The distance from New- 
York city to Point Beechey on the Arctic Sea 
was estimated at 5040 miles. The expedition 
wintered at Fort Franklin, and in the spring 
of 1S27 part of the officers and men were 
sent home by the way of Hudson's Bay ; Cap- 
tain Franklin and Dr. Richardson returning 
to England by way of New-York. They ar- 
rived in London on the 29th of September, 1827, 
having been absent two years, seven months 
and a half. 

In his accountof this journey Captain Frank- 
lin remarks, that " the opinion he formerly ex- 
pressed as to the practicability of a northwest 
passage has been considerably strengthened by 
the information obtained during his second ex- 
pedition. The northern coast of America has 
now been actually surveyed from long. 109 deg. 
to 149| deg. west, and again by Captain 
Beechey from ley Cape eastward to about 156 
deg. west, leaving not more than 50 leagues of 
unsurveyed coast between Point Turnagam and 
Icy Cape. Further, the delineation of the Avest 
side of Melville Peninsula, in the chart of Cap- 
tain Parry's second voyage, conjoined with in- 
formation which was obtained from the northern 
Indians, fairly warrants the conclusion that the 
coast preserves an easterly direction from Point 
Turnagain towards Repulse Bay ; and that, in 
all probability, there are no insurmountable ob- 
stacles between this part of the Polar Sea and 
the extensive openings into the Atlantic, through 
Prince Regent's Inlet and the Strait of the 
Fury and Hecla." 



LYON— BEECHEY. 71 

CAPTAIN LYOn's VOYAGE. 

The British government, in order to complete 
as far as possible the survey of the northern 
coasts of the continent of America, sent two 
other expeditions to the Polar Seas, namely one 
in 1824. commanded by Captain Lyon, and the 
other in 1825, under the command of Captain 
Beechey. On the 10th of June, 1824, Captain 
Lyon sailed from England in the Griper, with 
instructions to winter in Repulse Bay, and in 
the ensuing spring to cross from the head of 
that bay to the northern shores of the American 
continent, which he was to survey westward ; 
so that his survey, joined to that of Dr. Richard, 
son, might complete our knowledge of the 
shores of the North Polar Sea, from their near- 
est accessible point to the mouth of Mackenzie's 
River. The whole voyage of Captain Lyon 
was a continued struggle with adv^erse winds 
and boisterous weather. Late in the season he 
arrived in the north part of Hudson's Bay, but 
from the state of the sea and contrary winds he 
was unitle to advance farther, and after va- 
rious disasters he was compelled to relinquish 
the attempt and return home. 

CAPTAIN BEECHEy's VOYAGE. 

From the nature of the services allotted to 
Captain Franklin and Dr. Richardson, it was 
considered nearly impossible that either of the 
parties under their directions could arrive at the 
open sea in Behring's Strait, without having ex- 
hausted their resources ; and being also desti- 



72 BEF.CHEY. 

tute of a conveyance to a place whence they 
could return to Europe. To obviate these an- 
ticipated difficulties the British government de- 
termined upon sending a ship to Behring's Strait, 
to await in the autumn of 1826 the expected ar- 
rival of Captain Franklin's expedition in that 
neighbourhood ; also to afford assistance to 
Captain Parry, should he have succeeded at that 
time in effecting a northwest passage, from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific. 

The vessel selected for this service was the 
sloop of war Blossom, mounting sixteen guns, 
and having a crewcf 100 men, to the command 
of which Captain Frederick W. Beechey was 
appointed. He sailed from Spithead in Eng- 
land, May 19, 1825, with instructions to pro- 
ceed around Cape Horn to Otaheite and other 
islands in the Pacific Ocean, and after survey, 
ing several groupes of those islands, to steer 
northward for Behring's Strait, so as to arrive 
at Kotzebue's Sound, the appointed rendezvous 
fixed by Captain Franklin and himself, as early 
as the month of July in the following year. 
After an interesting and favourable vofSge, du- 
ring which some important discoveries and sur- 
veys were made, our voyagers passed through 
Behring's Strait, and entered Kotzebue's Sound 
on the 22d of July, 1826, and on the 25th 
reached the appointed rendezvous at Chamisso 
Island, ten days later than had been agreed 
upon by Captains Franklin and Beechey, but 
which it appeared was quite early enough, as 
there were no traces of the former having ar- 
rived. Leaving signals and provisions on the 



BEECHEY. 73 

island for Captain Franklin, in case he should 
arrive over land during his absence, Captain 
Beechey proceeded northward in the ship, and 
in the middle of August arrived off Icy Cape. 
This cape, the farthest point reached by Cap- 
tain Cook in 1778, was at the time of its disco- 
very very much encumbered with ice, whence 
it received its name ; none however was now 
visible. The cape is very low, and has a large 
lake at the back of it, which receives the water 
of a considerable river, communicating with the 
sea through a narrow channel. There are se- 
veral winter habitations of the Esquimaux upon 
the cape, which were afterwards visited by one 
of the officers. Black whales were seen off the 
cape in great numbers. Deeming it contrary 
to his instructions to proceed west of Icy Cape 
in the ship, Captain Beechey despatched Mr. 
Elson, the master, with Mr. Smyth the senior 
mate and eight men, to trace the shore to the 
north-eastward as far as it was possible for a 
boat to navigate, with a view to render the ear- 
liest possible assistance to Captain Franklin, and 
to obtain what information he could of the 
trending of the coast and of the position of the 
ice. Mr- Elson was further directed not to pro- 
long his absence from the ship beyond the first 
week in September, and to place landmarks, 
&;c. in conspicuous places for Captain Frank- 
lin's guidance. The ship was then steered 
northward a few miles, and on the I8th August 
the main body of the ice was seen in lat. 71 deg. 
7 min. Returning to Kotzebue's Sound, the 
ship was anchored at Chamisso Island on the 



74 BEECHEY. 

27th August, to await the return of the bargey 
which took place on the 10th September. The 
farthest tongue of land reached by the barge on 
the 22d August is conspicuous as being the most 
northerly point yet discovered on the continent 
of America, and was named by Captain Beechey 
Point Barrow. It lies in lat. 71 deg. 23 min. 
31 sec. N. and Ion. 156 deg. 21 min. 30 sec. 
W. 126 miles to the northeast of Icy Cape, and 
is only 146 miles from Point Beechey, the ex- 
treme of Captain Franklin's discoveries in his 
progress westward from Mackenzie's River. Cap- 
tain Franklin having commenced his return on 
the 18th August, 1826, (as has been related page 
68,) it will be perceived that if he had con- 
tinued his course west he might possibly have 
met Mr. Flson about the last of August, and 
thus the main objects of both expeditions have 
been accomplished. On this subject Captain 
Franklin remarks as follows : " Could I have 
known, or by possibility imagined, that a party 
from the Blossom had been at the distance of 
only 160 miles from me, no difficulties, dangers, 
or discouraging circumstances, should have pre- 
vailed on me to return ; but taking into account 
the uncertainty of all voyages in a sea ob- 
structed by ice, I had no right to expect that the 
Blossom had advanced beyond Kotzebue In 
let, or that any party from her had doubled Icy 
Cape. It is useless now to speculate on the pro- 
bable result of a proceeding which did not take 
place ; but I may observe, that had we gone for- 
ward as soon as the weather permitted, namely, 
on the 18th, it is scarcely possible that any 



BEECHEY. 75 

change of circumstances could have enabled 
us to overtake the Blossom's barge. I have re- 
cently learned by letter from Captain Beechey 
that the barge turned back on the 25th of Au- 
gust, having been several days beset by the 
ice." 

About 70 miles of coast having been surveyed 
by Mr. Elson, in addition to those discovered by 
the Blossom, 126 miles have been added to the 
geography of the Polar Regions by Captain 
Beechey's expedition. 

Having waited in vain for the arrival of Cap- 
tain Franklin until the 15th October, Captain 
Beechey relinquished all hopes of meeting him, 
and left Kotzebue's Sound, steering his course 
south. He afterwards visited the Sandwich 
Islands, China, and the Loo Choo Islands and 
other parts of the Pacific Ocean, returning to 
Behring's Strait and Kotzebue's Sound, agreea- 
bly to his instructions, in August 1827, again 
with the hope of meeting Captain Franklin and 
his party. The ship being anchored at Cha- 
misso Island, Lieutenant Belcher was sent with 
the barge around Icy Cape, but hearing no ti- 
dings of Captain Franklin, he commenced his 
return, and the barge was afterwards wrecked 
on Choris Peninsula, when three of the crew 
perished in the sea. The remainder of the men 
were taken off by one of the ship's boats, which 
came to their relief. On the 6th October the 
Blossom weighed anchor and sailed from Kot- 
zebue's Sound; Captain Beechey thus taking 
his final leave of Behring's Strait, after all hopes 
of the attainment of the principal object of the 



76 BEECHEY. 

expedition in the Polar Sea was at an end, and 
the fate of the party under Captain Franklin, 
which was of course then unknown to those on 
board of the Blossom, remained an object of in- 
tense interest. It was a consolation, however, to 
Captain Beechey and his officers, that their ef- 
forts to maintain their station in those seas had in 
both years, by the blessing of Providence, been 
successful, so that at no period of the appointed 
time of rendezvous could Captain Franklin have 
missed both the boat and the ship, or have ar- 
rived at the appointed place in Kotzebue's Sound 
without finding the anticipated relief. Captain 
Beechey is of opinion, " that could steam vessels, 
properly fitted and adapted to the service, ar- 
rive in good condition in Kotzebue's Sound by 
the beginning of summer, they might with care 
and patience succeed in reaching the western 
shore of Melville Peninsula in the next. There, 
however, they would undoubtedly be stopped, 
and have to encounter difficulties which had 
repulsed three of the most persevering attempts 
ever made toward the accomphshment of a 
similar object." 

On his return home Captain Beechey passed 
Cape Horn on the 30th June, 1828, and aftertouch- 
ing at Rio Janeiro, steered for England, where 
he arrived in the October following, in a passage 
of 49 days across the Atlantic. 

In this voyage, which occupied three years 
and a half, he sailed 73,000 miles, and expe- 
rienced every vicissitude of climate. Many ob- 
jects of interest were accomplished by this bril- 
liant expedition. Our voyagers surveyed aU 



EEECHEY. 77 

most every place at which the ship touched, and 
executed plans of fourteen harbours ; of up- 
wards of forty islands, of which six are disco- 
veries ; and of at least 600 miles of coasts, one 
fifth of which has not before been delineated. 
Much information was also obtained on the sub- 
ject of natural history. 



1 



NARRATIVE 

OF THE 

SECOND 

VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN ROSS 

TO THE 

ARCTIC REGIONS^ 

IN THE YEARS 1829-30-31-32-33. 

COMPILED PRINCIPALLY 

FRO!!f THE EVIDENCE OF CAPTAIN ROSS, AND HIS NEPHEW, 
COMMANDER ROSS, BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF 

THE HOUSE OF C03IM0NS. 



PRS:i<A€E. 



The following pages do not pretend to con- 
tain more than a faithful epitome of the evidence 
given before the Select Committee of the House 
of Commons, appointed to inquire into the cir- 
cumstances of the expedition to the Arctic Seas, 
commanded by Captain Ross. The Committee 
was appointed on the 18th of March last, and 
after hearing the testimony of Captain Ross 
himself; Commander Ross, his nephew ; Felix 
Booth, Esq.; the gentleman to whose truly na- 
tional spirit we owe the expedition ; Lord de 
Saumarez ; Captain Francis Beaufort, Hydro- 
grapher to the Admiralty ; Mr. Children, F. R. 
S., and E. S. Cayley, M. P., obtained leave, on 
the 28th of April, to report their observations to 
the house, together with the Minutes of Evi- 
dence taken before them. 

It is from the Minutes of Evidence thus 
printed, that the following sketch has been pre- 
pared. Public curiosity has been very strongly 
excited to learn the result of this expedition, 
peculiar circumstances attending it having given 



IxXXii PREFACE. 

it additional interest. It is with the view of 
gratifying to some extent so reasonable a feeU 
ing, that this volume has been undertaken ; not 
with any intention, — which indeed could not, 
even did it exist, be of avail, — of forestalling the 
more elaborate work which, it is understood, is at 
present in progress of preparation for the press, 
under the superintendence of Captain Ross him- 
self. 

If either the compiler or publisher of this 
volume for a moment anticipated that such would 
be the result of their labours, they would never 
have been undertaken ; but this unpretending 
volume is presented as a preparatory whet to 
the more substantial banquet which, we doubt 
not, awaits the public in the forthcoming volumes 
of Captain Ross. 

We have arranged all the information which 
could be extracted from the report of the House 
of Commons' Committee, adhering as much as 
possible to the language of the v/itnesses them- 
selves. Our object, we repeat, has not been to 
anticipate the publication of the authentic ac- 
count of the expedition, v/hich may be expect- 
ed from its enterprising commander ; in order 
to enable whom to bring out his book in as com- 
plete a manner as possible, the Admiralty have 
allowed his nephew leave of absence, that he 



PREFACE, IxXSiii 

oiay assist him in its compilation and arrange- 
ment. This, from the peculiar circumstances 
attending both the discovery of the magnetic 
pole, and the various expeditions on which he 
proceeded alone to explore portions of the 
newly discovered territory, he possesses greater 
means of accomplishing even than his uncle. 

The compiler of this sketch (it does not pur- 
port to be more) does not anticipate any objec- 
tions to the subject of his labours, or the manner 
in which he has treated it. Parliamentary docu- 
ments, from one of which it has been to nearly 
its whole extent derived, are public property; 
as such, he has considered and dealt with the 
Report of the Committee of the House of Com- 
mons. 

The importance of the inquiry as to the pos- 
sibility of discovering a practicable north-west 
passage from the Eastern to the Western Ocean, 
is too well understood to require any state- 
ment in its favour. The subject has occupied 
the attention of this country for upwards of 
two centuries ; and seems at present, with all 
the lights which recent expeditions have thrown 
on it, almost as far removed from solution as 
ever ; not that the voyages of Parry, Franklin, 
and Ross, have not given negative testimony of 
a very strong kind against its existence. On 



IxXXiv PREFACE. 

this point it will be seen that some difference of 
opinion exists between Captain and Command- 
er Ross ; and it must be confessed that the lat- 
ter officer, from the great advantages of expe- 
rience which he possesses, derived from the fact 
that he has accompanied every one of the re- 
cent voyages of discovery to the Arctic 
Regions, brings to his views a greater a 
priori foundation ; but still his uncle states, as 
unquestionably proved by the labours of the last 
expedition, that no such passage as that so long 
sought for exists, at least south of the seventy- 
first degree of latitude. Another most import- 
ant result from the voyage, is the discovery of 
the locality of the magnetic pole, which was de- 
termined by a series of observations and experi- 
ments, as far as we can judge, of the most con- 
clusive kind. 

We have been indebted for a small portion of 
our information to other sources than the Parlia- 
mentary Report ; and have, in all instances, we 
believe, acknowledged them. 

M. 

June, 1834. 



The House of Commons' Committee con= 
sisted of the following gentlemen :— 



Mr. Cutlar Fergusson 

Sir Robert Peel 

Sir Robert Inglis 

Sir James Graham 

Mr. Huit 

Mr. Aglionby 

Mr. Chapman 

Sir Henry Hardinge 

Sir Edward Codrington 

Mr. W. Gladstone 

Mr. Ewart 

Mr. Bannerman 

Sir Andrew Agnew 



Mr. Edward Stewart 
Mr. G. Robinson 
Mr. Warburton 
Lord Dudley Stuart 
Mr. Stuart Mackenzie 
Mr. Fox Talbot 
Mr. Brotherton 
Mr. Emerson Tennant 
Mr. G. F. Young 
Mr. Hughes Hughes 
Lord Viscount Sandon 
Mr. Labouchere 
Mr. O'Connell. 



Of whom five were constituted a quorum. 



S E COND 

VOYAGE ©F CAPTAIN KOS^ 

TO THE 

ARCTIC SEAS. 



Before we commence the narrative of the 
circumstances attending the last voyage of Cap- 
tam Ross, a slight notice of the naval career of 
that gentleman, in which we shall pursue as 
closely as possible his own modest account and 
in his own words, as delivered in his evidence 
before the House of Commons' Committee, will, 
we doubt not, be read with interest, and serve 
as a useful preliminary introduction to the story 
of the voyage itself. In this account, which we 
have thrown together as if told by a third per- 
son, we have varied very little from the Ian- 
guage of the gallant and enterprising officer 
himself. 

Captain John Ross entered the royal navy so 
long ago as the year 1786, nearly half a cen- 
tury since, at a time when he was of tender 
age, being only about ten years old. He con- 
tinued in the service for four years, during which 
period he served on board two ships, — the Pearl 
and the Impregnable ; he then left the royal navy 
for the merchant service, in which he remained 
until 1794, after which he was in the East India 
Company's employment until 1799; he then re- 
turned to the royal navy, and served m the ex» 



68 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

pedition to the Texel in that year. His next 
appointment was as acting lieutenant of the 
Weasel, from which he went into the Clyde. He 
then served under Lord de Saumarez, but al- 
though often acting lieutenant, ranked only as a 
midshipman. He was under the orders of Lord 
de Saumarez from the year 1802 to the year 
1812, and according to the testimony of that 
noble and gallant officer, " always acquitted 
himself highly to his satisfaction;" having been 
frequently engaged in services of an arduous 
nature during the period of ten years men- 
tioned. 

" In the Baltic," says Lord de Saumarez, 
(and such praise is the highest reward a naval 
officer could merit or feceive—Iaudari a laudato 
viro,) " he was frequently engaged in active ser- 
vices ; I had such high confidence in him, that 
when I took the Swedish fleet under my orders, 
I sent him on board the admiral's ship to inter- 
pret the British signals and evolutions that took 
place, and he acquitted himself very highly to 
my satisfaction ; on every occasion that pre- 
sented itself he acquitted himself with the utmost 
zeal and merit." 

Captain Ross commanded several vessels dur- 
ing the period he was under the orders of Lord 
de Saumarez, and was confirmed a lieutenant in 
1805 ; after this he was first lieutenant of the 
Surinam and Penelope ; he subsequently held 
the same appointment on board the Diomede, 
and was Lord de Saumarez's first lieutenant in 
the Victory, His gallant superior gave him his 
next promotion as commander in 1809, and 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 89 

afterwards intrusted to him the command of his 
majesty's ship Ariel. The scientific skill of 
Commander Ross was so highly appreciated by 
the Swedish government, that the Swedish king 
conferred upon him the Order of the Sword. 
As a navigator in the Gulf of Finland, where he 
was employed daring one whole summer, he be- 
came very well acquainted with the coast, and 
in every part of the Baltic (v/e are again adopt- 
ing the words of Lord de Saumarez) he displayed 
very great zeal and activity in making himself 
acquainted with the navigation of those seas. 

The last question put by the committee to the 
noble and gallant lord, is as follows : 

" 399. Does not your lordship consider that 
this expedition has been of great advantage to 
the navigation of the Arctic Seas ?" 

" I should deem it to be of very great import- 
ance," is the reply. 

The event, however, which first directed the 
attention of Captain Ross to those regions in the 
Arctic Sea, which are the subject of our present 
volume, was his appointment, in 1817, to the 
command of the expedition then fitted out to the 
Arctic Regions on a voyage of discovery, from 
which he returned in 1318. For his efficient 
discharge of the duties which devolved upon him 
during this expedition, he was promoted in De- 
cember of that year to the rank of post captain. 

In addition to this brief narrative of the pre- 
vious services of Captain Ross, we have only to 
add, that he was employed in surveying the 
White Sea, and determined the longitude of 
Bear or Cherry Island; that he was several 
9 



90 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

times engaged in boat actions, and destroyed a 
gun brig in the bay of Dilutte. He was wounded 
in thirteen different places, had both his legs 
broken, received a bayonet through the body, 
and five sabre cuts in his head, for which he 
now enjoys a well-merited pension of a hundred 
and fifty pounds a year. 

It will be seen at once from this statement, 
that all the qualities essential for the successful 
issue of a voyage of discovery to such a climate 
and country as the scene of his labours in the 
northern regions, are possessed by the subject 
of our memoir in a very high degree. 

In the former expedition of 1818, Captain 
Ross's track, as exhibited in the map published 
by order of the House of Commons, and accom- 
panying its report, was through Davis' Straits, 
a little to the west of Cape Desolation on the 
coast of Greenland : his course thence con- 
tinued northward, with very little deviation from 
a straight line by Baal's river to Cape Chidley, 
and by Discovery Island ; thence, skirting along 
the coast of Greenland by Buchan Island and 
Prince Regent's Bay, to very nearly as far north 
as Sir Thomas Smith's Sound — the most north- 
ern point he gained being between latitude 77 
deg. and 78 deg., a small group of islands a 
little south of Sir Thomas Smith's Sound. His 
way was then across the northwest point of 
Baffin's Bay to James's Sound, thence he directed 
his course south to the Lancaster Sound, by which 
subsequently, in 1822, Cpatain Parry penetrated 
as far as Melville Island. The rest of the voyage 
was by the western coast of Baffin's Bay and 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 91 

Davis's Straits. The only two voyages in vi^hich 
a higher degree of north latitude was obtained 
than during that of 1818, was by Captain 
Buchan, in the same year, who penetrated as 
far as latitude 80 deg., a little north-west of 
Spitzbergen ; and that of Captain Parry, in 
1827, who proceeded nearly two degrees far- 
ther north in the same region, and very nearly 
in the same part of it, as laid down in the most 
authentic maps. 

Captain Ross, like a true seaman, was no- 
thing daunted by the result of his first expedi- 
tion, and of those subsequently made up to the 
period when he was enabled to accomplish his 
object. To use his own words, he considered 
that the government had abandoned the project 
at the very time when they ought to have pro- 
ceeded with it ; and that they had also taken, in 
his opinion, the wrong way of doing it, by em- 
ploying in the former attempts at the wished-for 
discovery, vessels that were not at all fit for the 
service. He, therefore, full of these rational 
impressions, resulting from the former expe- 
rience he had obtained, made a proposal to our 
government in 1827, to effect the objects he and 
they in common had in view. This proposal 
was, that the voyage should be undertaken in a 
steam-vessel ; and as a proof of the earnest- 
ness with which he embraced this new view, he 
applied himself for a considerable time to the 
study of the question of steam navigation gene- 
rally ; with the view also of furthering his object, 
he wrote a treatise on the subject. The go- 
vernment views, however, did not coincide with 



92 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

those he entertained, and they decUned acceding 
to his proposals. 

With a praiseworthy perseverance, indicating 
the sense he entertained of the soundness of his 
own views, he made a second apphcation to the 
Admiralty at the time when his present Majesty 
received from Mr. Canning's administration the 
appointment of Lord High Admiral. It is said 
the Royal Duke was inclined to encourage the 
project, but his council advised otherwise, and 
the same want of success marked the applica- 
tion. A third time Captain Ross applied to the 
same quarter after the reappointment of Viscount 
Melville to the post of Chief Lord of the Admi- 
ralty, and a third time he was unsuccessful ; the 
board, on this occasion, declaring that as ago- 
vernment measure it was altogether useless to 
urge it any more, as it must in that light at least 
be considered abandoned. About this time it 
was rumoured and believed that the Americans 
had resolved on taking up the expedition them- 
selves, with the view of working out the problem 
still left unsolved of a north-west passage. The 
impression on Captain Ross's mind when this 
rumour met his ears may be learned from his 
own words. "I thought," says he, ''that this 
country should be the people to discover the 
passage, if there was any, or to decide the ques- 
tion." The Americans, however, abandoned 
the preparations which had, beyond doubt, 
been commenced for the purpose. Their plan, 
if they had fitted out the intended expedition, 
was to proceed by Behring's Straits, beyond the 
track of Captain Beechey in 1825 and 1828. 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 93 

Defeated thus in all his attempts to obtain aid 
from the government, Captain Ross had recourse 
to his private friends. The first to whom he 
appHed was Felix Booth, Esq., to whom, al- 
though, in the first instance, from a most praise- 
worthy motive, to be explained presently, he 
declined taking part in the preparations for the 
voyage, the public is mainly if not wholly in- 
debted that it was at all undertaken. We can- 
not, in justice to this high-spirited gentleman, 
forbear from quoting the following passage of the 
Report of the House of Commons' Committee, 
in reference to his highly disinterested conduct. 

" To Mr. Felix Booth, to whose modest pub- 
lic spirit and rare munificence this expedition is 
entirely due, your Committee regret that they 
have it not in their power to propose some fit 
token of acknowledgment ; but they cannot for- 
bear offering the tribute of their admiration and 
respect." 

Disappointed in the first instance in the result 
of his application to Mr. Booth, Captain Ross 
went to another friend, Mr. Thornton, of Old 
Swan, a gentleman who is well known as a 
speculative man. He told him in the first in- 
stance that the affair was to be kept a secret, as 
it was proper that, being a king's officer, he 
should be himself the first person to make it 
known to the Admiralty. Nothing, however, 
beyond a series of conversations on the subject 
resulted from the application to Mr. Thornton. 
In the meanwhile, an event occurred which re- 
moved all the objections entertained by Mr. 
Booth to having any share in the expedition,— a 
9* 



94 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

bill was brought into Parliament, which virtually 
did away with the reward, by doing away with 
the board of longitude. 

Mr. Booth's objection, in the first instance, 
was that there had been offered a reward of 
j£20,000 for the discovery of the north-west pas- 
sage ; and he felt that many persons, ignorant 
of the real causes which prompted him, would 
have attributed his coming forward to motives of 
private speculation. He had been acquainted 
with Captain Ross for some time previously, 
and — but it is better we should give the explana- 
tion of his motives, &c., in his own simple lan- 
guage. 

"I had known Captain Ross," is his reply to 
question 448, " for some years, and I undertook 
the charge of the enterprise which he command- 
ed, for the credit of the country, and to serve 
Captain Ross, thinking that he had been slight- 
ed in the former expedition, and on account of 
ill-natured reports which were circulated ano- 
nymously against him. I conceived that there 
was a cloud hung over him, and he was anx- 
ious to have the opportunity of going out again. 
The first time he applied to me we were looking 
over the globe, and he was explaining to me 
what he had done before ; I felt interested that 
all discoveries should be made by our country- 
men ; and I really was then excited and was 
sorry that another expedition was not appointed 
to go out to explore the northern regions. He 
said he should like very much to have the op- 
portunity of going out again, but that govern- 
ment would not send out another expedition. I 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 95 

said I regretted very much, if that was the case ; 
but did he know it for a certainty ? and he said, 
Not exactly, but I will endeavour to ascertain. 
He then, I beheve, had some private communi- 
cation with Lord Melville, whether it was thought 
they should do so or not (this was in the year 
1827, I think,) and Lord Melville said ' there 
was no intention, at present, of sending out any 
further expeditions, but he could not say what 
they might do hereafter.' Captain Ross then 
said ' I should like very much to go out again, 
and I think I could do it at a small expense.' I 
said, ' Well then, put down, and let me see what 
you call a small expense.' He afterwards 
brought me a paper containing his calculation, 
making it about £10,000. I said, 'Well, I 
should have no objection to advance £10,000, if 
that would be the utmost sum required ; but I 
said ' I will not engage in it, because there is 
£20,000 reward for any person who shall dis- 
cover the passage, and it would look very much 
as though I had an object in view.' I think it 
was a twelvemonth after, that he came to me 
and said, ' Now it is all over, and the reward 
of £20,000 is done away with, and there is no 
chance of an expedition going out again.' I 
then said to him ' I am glad of it, and that if he 
wanted me to assist him I was wilhng to do so.' 
He was amazingly delighted, on which I told 
him, ' I will assist you, it must be in the utmost 
confidence, and I will not do anything inimical 
to government.' I asked him how we could find 
out whether that would meet their approbation, 
unless he were to mention the whole circum- 



96 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

Stances ; and I said *I shall not do anything, unless 
it is kept a profound secret.' He then informed 
me that Lord Melville was his friend, and that he 
thought he could mention it to him in confidence, 
and ask him whether there could he any objec- 
tion to a private individual fitting out such an 
expedition. Lord Melville's answer was, that 
he could not see any objection, and that if there 
were any small things lying at Woolwich, from 
the former expedition, that would be of service 
to him, he should very much like to forward 
his views." 

This was noble conduct, noble in the motive 
which prompted the first refusal, equally so 
throughout the whole transaction, and it will go 
down to posterity as a proof of the magnificent 
liberality of a British merchant, that what the 
government of the country, with the ample funds 
and other " appliances to boot," at its disposal, 
refused to embark in, was successfully carried 
forward by the public spirit and disinterested 
munificence of an individual. Such instances, 
it is true, are rare, but we should on that very 
account, only prize them the more. 

This sum of £10,000, however, was not the 
whole extent of the services bestowed by Mr. 
Booth upon the cause of science and maritime 
discovery. The whole expense to which he was 
put in fitting out the expedition, and in the after- 
charges which it entailed upon him, was between 
£18,000 and £19,000. It was at first suggested 
that there should be two ships, and accordingly 
two were fitted out, the Victory and the John, 
The crew of the latter vessel, however, mutinied, 



CAPTAIN EOSS, 97 

in consequence of the great delay that had oc- 
curred in getting ready for sea, and the other 
vessel ultimately sailed without her. The pro- 
ceeds from the sale of the John amounted to 
£1800. During the absence of this expedition, 
Mr. Booth maintained the men's wives, and ex- 
pended about £380, which latter sum, however, 
has been stopped since their return, from the 
men, out of the payment made by order of the 
government. 

Mr. Booth properly nominated Captain Ross 
sole commander of the expedition ; with, of 
course, liberty to appoint whom he pleased 
under him ; the only stipulation he made being 
that they should be persons likely to be of ser- 
vice. Captain Ross agreed himself to serve 
without any pay, as well as his nephew, Com- 
mander James Clarke Ross, of the Royal Navy, 
who went out as second in command ; and Mr. 
William Thom, also of the Royal Navy, who 
was formerly with Captain Ross in the Isahella^ 
and who went out now with him as the third in 
command, and besides took charge of the me- 
teorological journal. 

Captain Ross,thus left at liberty to choose whom 
he pleased to accompany him, received gratuitous 
offers of zealous service and assistance, in any 
capacity, from two distinguished officers, Captain 
Back and Captain Hoppner, offers equally cre- 
ditable to Captain Ross and to those who made 
them. Captain Back's offer was made in Par- 
liament-street, where he met Captain Ross walk- 
ing with his nephew, when he said, *^ Will you 
take me on any terms ; I will go as draftsman, 



98 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

or anything you choose to make me." Captain 
Hoppner made a similar offer, verbally at first, 
and subsequently in writing. The following is 
a copy of Captain Hoppner's letter, with the re- 
ply of Captain Ross : 

" Mt Dear Sir,— As I feel so much inte- 
rested in your noble enterprise, I cannot help 
expressing myself more explicitly on the subject 
next my heart. If you will accept of my ser- 
vices, I am ready to go with you in any capacity, 
and will make over all I am worth in the world 
for the advancement of your object. I promise 
you most implicit obedience ; and will never 
offer an opinion, unless required. Be assured 
of my devotion to the great and noble undertak- 
ing, and 

" Believe me, 
" Your very humble Servant, 

" H. P. HOPPNEE. 

" R. N. Club, Bond Street, 
" Saturday, March ^\st. 

" P.S. There is no occupation so lowly that 
I will not undertake." 



REPLY. 



''im,Bond Street, 
" 23r£Z March, 1829. 



My Dear Sir, —I return you my warmest 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 99 

thanks for the handsome manner in which you 
have volunteered your services ; but my ar- 
rangements are finally made ; and I regret that 
it is therefore out of my power to accept them. 
I am grateful for your kind wishes of success ; 
and I pray you to believe me very truly, 

« Yours, 

" John Ross. 

" To Captain Hoppner, R. lY." 

Captain Ross, however, naturally enough 
preferred, even to this most disinterested offer, 
that his own nephew should accompany him. He 
then at once, all the preliminary arrangements 
having been made, proceeded to Liverpool, 
where he purchased iheVictory, which was fitted 
up with engines of peculiar construction, so made 
as to take up the least possible space. Some 
more time was spent m the preparations ; and 
at length, on Saturday, the 23d of May, 1829, 
the Victory sailed from Woolwich, on its voyage 
to the North Seas. 

The following are the names of the crew of 
the Victory, as she left this country : — 

Captain John Ross,j^r5^ in command. 
Commander James Claeke Ross, second in 

command. 
Mr. Thom, Purser j third in command^ and in 

charge of the meteorological journal. 
Ms. George M'Diarmid, Surgeon. 



100 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

William Light, Steward. 

Thomas Blanky, Mate. 

Richard Wall, Seaman. 

Anthony Buck, Ditto. 

Allan M'Innes, Second engineer. 

James Marslin, Armourer. 

John Park, Seaman. 

Joseph Curtis, Ditto. 

John Wood, Ditto. 

Robert Shrewe, Carpenter^s Mate. 

Henry Ayre, Cooli. 

Thomas Abernethie, Mate. 

Chimham Thomas, Carpenter. 

George Taylor, Mate. 

Alexander Brunton, First engineer. 

Barney Lackey, Landman. 

David Wood, Seaman. 

James Dixon, Landman. 

George Baxter, Ditto, 

Before we proceed to give a summary of the 
evidence of the gallant navigator and his com- 
panions, we give the following letter, written by 
Captain Ross to Captain the Hon, George El- 
liott, C. B., chief secretary to the Admiralty, and 
dated on board the Isabella of Hull, Baffin's 
Bay, September, 1833. 

" On hoard the Isabella of Hull, 
Baffin's Bay, September, 1833. 

" Sir — Knowing how deeply my Lords Com- 
missioners of the Admiralty are interested in the 
advancement of natural knowledge, and par- 
ticularly in the improvement of geography, I 
have to acquaint youj fovthe information of their 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 101 

Lordships, that the expedition, the main object 
of which is to solve, if possible, the question of 
a N.W. passage from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
cific Ocean, particularly by Prince Regent's 
Inlet, and which sailed from England in May, 
1829, notwithstanding the loss of the foremast 
and otheruntoward circumstances which obliged 
the vessel to refit in Greenland, reached the 
beach on which His Majesty's late ship Fury's 
stores were landed, on the 13th of August. 

" We found the boats, provisions, &c., in ex- 
cellent condition, but no vestige of the wreck. 
After completing our fuel and other necessa- 
ries, we sailed on the 14th, and on the following 
morning rounded Cape Garry, where our new 
discoveries commenced, and keeping the west- 
ern shore close on board, ran down the coast in 
a S.W. by W. course, in from ten to twenty 
fathoms, until we had passed the lat. of 72 deg. 
N., in long. 94 deg W. ; here we found a con- 
siderable inlet leading to the westward, the ex- 
amination of which occupied two days ; at this 
place we were first seriously obstrucied by ice, 
which was now sure (seen) to extend from the 
South Cape of the inlet in a solid mass round 
by S. and E. to E.N. E. Owing to this circum- 
stance, the shallowness of the water, the rapidity 
of the tide, the tempestuous weather, the irre- 
gularity of the coast, and the numerous inlets 
and rocks for which it is remarkable, our pro- 
gress was no less dangerous than tedious ; yet 
we succeeded in penetrating into the lat. of 70 
deg. N. in long. 92 deg. W., when the land,, 
after having carried us as far E. as 90 deg.^ 
10 



102 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

took a decided westerly direction ; while land, 
at the distance of forty miles to southward, was 
seen trending east and west. At this extreme 
point our progress was arrested, on the 1st of 
October, by an impenetrable barrier of ice. We, 
however, found an excellent wintering port, 
which we named Felix Harbour. 

" Early in January, 1830, we had the good 
fortune to establish a friendly intercourse with 
a most interesting association of natives, who 
being insulated by nature, had never before 
communicated with strangers : from them we 
gradually obtained the important information 
that we had already seen the continent of Ame- 
rica ; that, about forty miles to the S.W. there 
were two great seas, one to the west, which 
was divided from that to the east by a narrow 
strait or neck of land. The verification of this 
intelligence, either way, on which our future 
operations so materially depended, devolved on 
Commander Ross, who volunteered his service 
early in April, and accompanied by one of the 
mates, and guided by two of the natives, pro- 
ceeded to the spot, and found that the north land 
was connected to the south by two ridges of 
high land, fifteen miles in breadth ; but taking 
into account a chain of fresh water lakes which 
occupied the valleys between, the dry land, 
which actually separates the two oceans, is only 
five miles. This extraordinary isthmus was 
subsequently visited by myself, when Com- 
mander Ross proceeded minutely to survey the 
Fea coast to the southward of the isthmus, lead- 
ing to the westward, which he succeeded in 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 103 

tracing to the 99 deg., or to 150 miles of Cape 
Turnagain of Franklin, to which point the land 
after leading him into the 70 deg. of N. lat. 
trended directly : during the same journey he 
also surveyed 30 miles of the adjacent coast, or 
that to the north of the isthmus, which, by also 
taking a westerly direction, formed the termi- 
nation of the western sea into a gulf. The rest 
of this season was employed in tracing the sea 
coast of the isthmus leading to the eastward, 
which was done so as to leave no doubt that it 
joined, as the natives had previously informed 
us, to Ackullee and the land forming Repulse 
Bay. It was also determined that there was no 
passage to the westward for thirty miles to the 
northward of our position. 

" This summer, like that of 1818, was beau- 
tifully fine, but extremely unfavourable for na- 
vigation ; and our object being now to try a 
more northern latitude, we waited with anxiety 
for the disruption of the ice, but in vain, and our 
utmost endeavours did not succeed in retracing 
our steps more than five miles ; and it was not 
until the middle of November that we succeeded 
in cutting the vessel into a place of security, 
which we named " Sheriff^'s Harbour." I may 
here mention that we named the newly disco- 
vered continent to the southward, " Boothia," 
as also the isthmus, the peninsula to the north, 
and the eastern sea, after my worthy friend, 
Felix Booth, Esq., the truly patriotic citizen of 
London, who in the most disinterested manner 
enabled me to equip this expedition in a supe- 
rior style. 



041 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

" The last winter was in temperature nearly- 
equal to the mean of what had been experienced 
on the four preceding voyages ; but the winters 
of 1830 and 1831 set in with a degree of vio- 
lence hitherto beyond record, the thermometer 
sunk to 92 deg. below the freezing point, and 
the average of the year was 10 deg. below the 
preceding; but notwithstanding the severity of 
the summer, we travelled across the country to 
the west sea, by a chain of lakes, thirty miles 
north of the isthmus, when Commander Ross 
succeeded in surveying fifty miles more of the 
coast leading to the north-west ; and by tracing 
this shore to the northward of our position, it 
was also fully proved that there could be no 
passage below the 71st degree. 

" This autumn we succeeded in getting the 
vessel only fourteen miles to the northward, and 
as we had not doubled the Eastern Cape, all 
hopes of saving the ship were at an endj and 
put quite beyond possibility by another very se- 
vere winter ; and having only provisions to last 
us to June, 1832, dispositions were accordingly 
made to leave the ship in her present port, 
which (after her) was named * Victory Harbour.' 
Provisions and fuel being carried forward in the 
spring, we left the ship on the 29th of May, 
1832, for Fury Beach, being the only chance 
left of saving our lives. Owing to the very rug- 
ged nature of the ice, we were obliged to keep 
either upon or close to the land, making the 
circuit of every bay, thus increasing our dis- 
tance of two hundred miles by nearly one half, 
and it was not until the 1st of July that we 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 105 

reached the beach, completely exhausted by 
hunger and fatigue, 

"A hut was speedily constructed, and the 
boats, three of which had been washed off the 
beach, but providentially driven on shore again, 
were repaired during this month ; but the un- 
usual heavy appearance of the ice afforded us 
no cheering prospect until the 1st of August, 
when in three boats we reached the ill-fated 
spot where the Fury was first driven on shore ; 
and it was not until the 1st of September we 
reached Leopold South Island, now established 
to be the north-east point of America, in lat. 
93 deg. 56 min., and long. 70 deg. W. From 
the summit of the lofty mountain on the pro- 
montory,we could see Prince Regent's Inlet, Bar- 
row's Strait, and Lancaster Sound, which pre- 
sented one impenetrable mass of ice, just I had 
seen it in 1818 ; here we remained in a state of 
anxiety and suspense which may be easier ima- 
gined than described. All our attempts to push 
through were vain. At length, being forced by 
want of provisions, and the approach of a most 
severe winter, to return to Fury Beach, where 
alone there remained wherewith to sustain life, 
we arrived there on the 7th of October, after a 
most fatiguing and laborious march, having been 
obliged to leave our boats at Batty Bay. Our 
habitation, which consisted of a frame of spars, 
thirty-two feet by sixteen, covered with canvas, 
was, during the month of November, inclosed, 
and the roof covered with snow from four to 
seven feet thick, which being saturated with 
water when the temperature was 15 degrees 
10* 



106 SECOiMD VOYAGE OF 

below zero, immediately took the consistency of 
ice, and tl^us we actually became the inha- 
bitants of an iceberg during one of the most se- 
vere winters hitherto recorded ; our sufferings, 
aggravated by want of bedding, clothing, and 
animal food, need not be dwelt upon. Mr. G» 
Thomas, the carpenter, was the only man who 
perished at the beach, but three others, besides 
one who had lost his foot, were reduced to the 
last stage of debility, and only thirteen of our 
number were able to carry provisions, in severe 
journeys of sixly-two miles each to Butty Bay. 
We left Fury Beach on the 8th of July, carry, 
ing with us three sick men, who were unable to 
walk, and in six days we reached the boats, 
where the sick daily recovered. Although the 
spring was maid, it was not until the 15th of 
August that v/e had any cheering prospect. A 
gale from the westward having suddenly opened 
a lane of water along shore, in two days we 
readied our tormer position, and from the moun- 
tain we had the satisfaction of seeing clear wa- 
ter almost directly across Prince Regent's Inlet, 
which we crossed on the 17th, and took shelter 
from a storm twelve miles to the eastward of 
Cape York. Next day, when the gale abated, 
we crossed Admiralty Inlet, and were detained 
six days on the coast by a strong north-east 
wind. Oi! the 25rh we crossed Navy Board 
Inlet ; and on the following morning, to our in- 
expressible joy, we descried a ship in the offing, 
becalmed, which proved to be the Isabella of 
Hull, the same ship which I commanded in 
1818 : at noon wc reached her, when her en- 



CArTAIN ROSS. 107 

terprlsing commander, who had in vain searched 
for us in Prince Regent's Inlet, after giving us 
three cheers, received us with every demonstra- 
tion of kindness and hospitality which humanity 
could dictate. I ought to mention also, that 
Mr. Humphries, by landing me at Possession 
Bay, and subsequently on the west coast of 
Baffin's Bay, afforded me an excellent oppor- 
tunity of concluding my survey, and of verifying 
my former chart of that coast. 

" I have now the pleasing duty of calling the 
attention oftheir Lordships to the merits of Com- 
mander Ross, who was second in command in 
the direction of this expedition. The labours 
of this officer, vAio had the departments of as- 
tronomy, natural history, and surveying, will 
speak for themselves in language beyond the 
ability of my pen ; but they will be duly appre- 
ciated by their lordships and the learned bodies 
of which he is a member, and who are already 
well acquainted with his acquirements. 

'' My steady and faithful friend, Mr. William 
Thom of the Royal Navy, who was formerly 
with me in the Isahella, besides his duty as 
third in command, took charge of the meteoro- 
logical journal, the distribution and economy of 
provisions ; and to his judicious plans and sug- 
gestions must be attributed the uncommon de- 
gree of health which our crew enjoyed ; and as 
two out of three who died during the four and 
half years were cut off early in the voyage by 
diseases not peculiar to the climate, only one 
man can be said to have perished. 

" Mr. M'Diarmid, the surgeon, who had been 



108 SECOND VOYAGE Op 

several voyages to these regions, did justice to 
the high recommendation I received of him : he 
was successful in every amputation and opera- 
tion which he performed, and wonderfully so in 
his treatment of the sick ; and I have no hesi- 
tation in adding, that he would be an ornament 
to his Majesty's service. 

" Commander Ross, Mr. Thorn, and myself, 
have indeed been serving without pay, but in 
common with the crew have lost our all, which 
I regret the more, because it puts it totally out 
of my power to remunerate my fellow-sufferers, 
whose case I cannot but recommend for their 
lordships' consideration. 

" We have, however, the consolation, that the 
results of this expedition have been conclusive, 
and to science highly important, and may be 
briefly comprehended in the following words : 
the discovery of the Gulf of Boothia, the Con- 
tinent and Isthmus of Boothia Felix, and a vast 
number of islands, rivers, and lakes ; the un- 
deniable establishment that the north-eastern 
point of America extends to the 74th degree of 
north latitude ; valuable observations of every 
kind, but particularly on the magnet ; and, to 
crown all, we have had the honour of placing the 
illustrious name of our most gracious Sovereign 
William the Fourth on the true position of the 
magnetic pole. 

" I cannot conclude th' • '^;ter, sir, without 
acknowle«i*ring the impor » c xdvantages we ob- 
tained Cfom the iluciljle pubircations of Sir Ed- 
ward Parry and Sir John Franklin, and the com- 
munications kindly made to us by those dis- 



CAPTAIN EOSS. 109 

tinguished officers before our departure from 
England. 

" But the glory of this enterprise is entirely 
due to Him whose divine favour has been most 
especially manifested towards us, who guided 
and directed all our steps, who mercifully pro- 
vided effectual means for our preservation, and 
who, even after the devices and inventions of 
man had utterly failed, crowned our humble 
endeavours with complete success. 

" I have the honour to be, (fee, 
" John Ross, Captain, R. N." 

This statement is truly modest, plain, simple, 
and affecting ; and its assertions, according to 
the report of the Parliamentary Committee, are 
fully confirmed, as far as they have been ex- 
amined, by the evidence which appeared be- 
fore them ; and is supported by the opinions of 
Captain Beaufort, hydrographer to the Admiral, 
ty ; of Mr, Children, one of the secretaries of 
the Royal Society, and of Professor Barlow, 
who has made the magnetic variations his par- 
ticular study. 

The arrangement which Captain Ross origi- 
nally entered into with the men who accompanied 
him, and whose names we have already given, 
was, that their engagement should be consider- 
ed the same as if they were going on a whaling 
voyage, and thus to share with the crew of the 
whaler, {The John,) which he originally intended 
should accompany them to carry out their stores, 
provisions, and other necessary parts of the 



110 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

equipment. However, after the mutiny of the 
whaler, in consequence of the alleged delay in 
getting ready for sea, he entered into a new ar- 
rangement with the men who ultimately did ac- 
company him in the Victory. The terms of 
this second arrangement were, that the com- 
mander of the expedition was to pay them at 
the same rate he had done those who had for- 
merly gone with him on board the Isabella in 
1S18. With this agreement they were to run 
all risks ; and they having assented to these 
terms, the mutinous crew of the whaler did not 
proceed with them. 

Captain Ross, in entering into this arrange- 
ment, and abandoning that part of his plan which 
contemplated his being accompanied by the 
whaler as a store-ship, felt that he was in some 
degree justified — and indeed as the event veri- 
fied — in going in the Victory alone, as he knew 
that if they succeeded in reaching Prince Re- 
gent's Inlet, they would there find the stores 
belonging to the Fury. The men had original- 
ly signed articles for the first engagement, but 
when the second was entered into, so fully con- 
fident were they of the upright intentions of 
their superior, that that otherwise essential form 
was not deemed necessary. 

Captain Ross brought out with him some most 
valuable instruments and books, which he stated 
before the Committee of the House of Com- 
mons cost him very nearly one thousand pounds. 
All of these, except his sextant, and one chro- 
nometer, he unfortunately lost during the pro- 
gress of the expedition. His nephew, Com- 



CAPTAIN ROSS. Ill 

mander Ross, was equally unfortunate, having 
lost all his clothes, and the few instruments 
which he took out with him, these latter how- 
ever, luckily were not of any great conse- 
quence. They all lost their clothes, and Mr. 
Thom's losses were very considerable, as he 
had with him an excellent as well as abundant 
stock of clothes. 

The object of the expedition was to discover 
if there existed a passage, the North West, 
from one of the great seas, the Atlantic, the 
other, the Pacific. The researches and in- 
quiries of those navigators and explorers who 
had preceded Captain Ross, were confined to 
the chance of discovering this desired passage 
by Prince Regent's Inlet, the entrance to which, 
near Cornwaliis Island, lies in about 75 degrees 
latitude, and, as nearly as possible, 90 degrees 
of west longitude. Captain Ross had, in his 
expedition of 1818, gone as far in this direction 
as Lancaster Sound, in the same degree of lati- 
tude, but not within 10 degrees of the same 
longitude; while Captain Parry, in his expedi- 
tion of 1824-5, had passed as far down Prince 
Regent's Inlet, as about 72 degrees latitude. 
That gentleman, at the close of the account of 
his first voyage, in 1819, writes as follows : — 

*' Of the existence of a North-west Passage 
to the Pacific, it is now scarcely possible to 
doubt ; and from the success which attended our 
efforts in 1819, after passing through Sir James 
Lancaster's Sound, we were not unreasonable 
in anticipating its complete accomplishment. 
But the season in which it is practicable to navi=. 



112 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

gate the Polar Seas, does not exceed seven 
weeks. From all that we observed, it seems 
desirable that ships endeavouring to reach the 
Pacific Ocean by this route should keep, if 
possible, on the coast of America, and the low- 
er in latitude that coast may be found, the more 
favourable will it prove for the purpose ; hence, 
Cumberland Strait, Sir Thomas Powis, Wel- 
come, and Repulse Bay, appear to be the points 
most worthy attention." 

Most of these points. Captain Parry and others 
discovered to be impenetrable, the land be- 
ing continuous in them all, and the only chance 
which remained of such a passage being in 
existence, at least in so low a latitude as in the 
74th degree, has been set at rest by the expedi- 
tion of which we are about to present the 
reader with the details. 

Captain Ross, in his examination, says, *' The 
reasons of the expedition, were of course, for 
the benefit of science, and to decide the ques= 
tion which had been agitated for the last two 
hundred years, and to decide also whether there 
was that passage to which Captain Parry and 
Captain Franklin directed their attention ; and 
in that case it would have been found beneficial 
to the country, if there had been a passage in 
that direction, because it might be a navigable 
one. If it had been navigable, it might have 
been a benefit to the country ; but no passage 
to the northward of the 74th degree can be of 
any use to the country ; a passage to the north- 
ward of the 70th degree would be an advantage." 

On the 23d of May, 1829, Captain Ross and 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 113 

his adventurous crew left Woolwich. The steam 
power employed in his ship was of a wholly new 
principle, being so contrived as to combine every 
advantage of steam power with perfect capa- 
bility as a sailyig vessel. The boilers used, oc- 
cupied so small a space, that they were fixed 
between the engines ; the consumption of fuel 
was one-half, and the vv^eight of the engines one- 
fourth of those generally in use. Another ad- 
vantage which it enjoyed in its construction was, 
that a chimney could be dispensed with, leaving 
the deck, masts, and rigging, wholly unencum- 
bered. So well was the secret of Mr. Booth 
preserved at the time, that not one of the news- 
papers adverted to his share in the expenses of 
fitting out the expedition, which they all united 
in stating, had been at the private cost of Cap- 
tain Ross. 

During the early part of the outward voyage 
the Victory lost her foremast, and other unto- 
ward circumstances occurring, they were ob- 
liged to put into Widefbrd on the Greenland 
coast to refit, on the east side of Davis's Straits. 
Finding thus early her machinery nearly use- 
less. Captain Ross took steps to convert his 
steam ship into one of a character more suited 
to the regions in which he was proceeding. He 
accordingly equipped it as a sailing vessel, part- 
ly from the resources he had brought out from 
England, and partly from the materials of a 
London whaler which he found abandoned on 
that part of the coast. 

On the 27th of July, 1829, he was enabled to 
leave this place, and his doing so was the last 
11 



114 SECO?iD VOV^AGE OF 

account heard in Europe of the adventurous 
navigator and his daring and gallant crew, un- 
til they were discovered four years afterwards by 
the Isabella. 

The voyage out, during the autumn of 1829, 
was one of the most prosperous on record 
among these seas. The weather was unusually 
mild, and the sea less blocked up with those 
floating continents of ice which had been the 
principal impediment on all similar experiments 
previously made, than had been the case in any 
previous expedition. 

The Victory pursued its voyage up Baffin's 
Bay into Lancaster Sound, (laid down in the 
maps of Captain Parry as Barrow's Straits,) 
making as directly as possible for Prince Re- 
gent's Inlet to the spot where the wreck of the 
Fury had been abandoned by Captain Parry. 
This point is in latitude 72 deg. 41 min. 30 sec, 
and in longitude, by the chronometrical obser- 
vations of Captain Parry, 91 deg. 50 min. 05 
sec. The dip of the magnetic needle was 88 
deg. 19 min. 22 sec. and the variation 129 deg. 
25 min. westerly. 

He reached the spot indicated by Captain 
Parry on the 13th of August, in which month, 
at a later period, exactly four years before, the 
Fury had been abandoned by that officer. 

Captain Ross was fortunate enough to find 
here the keel of that ship, the only part which, 
after a lapse of four years, remained of the 
Fury. He landed without difficulty on the in- 
dicated spot, and was of course much pleased 
to find that he had not only accurately reached 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 115 

the precise spot, but to discover that the stores 
which had been left by his predecessor in those 
seas were as he had reason to suppose them. 
Some of the timbers of the Fury were also found 
in the immediate vicinity of the place, and these 
afforded most seasonable relief. 

On the 14th of August, having supplied all 
his wants from the stores of the Fury, he ad- 
vanced to the southward in Prince Regent's In- 
let, as far as Cape Garry, a headland near the 
spot where the Fury lay, and so named by Cap- 
tain Parry during the voyage of 1825, after his 
friend Nicholas Garry, Esq., one of the most 
active members of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany. 

From this point the west coast led him as far 
as lat. 72 deg. north, where the first serious 
impediment from the vast masses of ice was en- 
countered. 

In his passage down Prince Regent's Inlet, 
he occasionally landed to take possession, after 
the manner customary on those occasions, of 
the newly discovered territory in the name of 
the King of Great Britain. 

Owing to the rapidity of the tides in this inlet, 
which is of small width, and consequently diffi- 
cult on that account of navigation, as well as 
the currents, which, from the same cause, are 
extremely violent, the voyage through this pas- 
sage was one of great peril. The coast be 
sides is of a rocky character ; but through the 
great skill of Commander Ross, to whom this 
part of the expedition was very properly intrust- 



116 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

ed by his uncle, no danger greater than the 
usual sea risks was encountered. 

From the perils of a voyage of this descrip- 
tion, which more than once threatened to ter- 
minate fatally, they ultimately obtained a tem- 
porary escape by reaching 72 deg. of north 
latitude, and 94 deg, of west longitude, nearly 
due south of Fury Point, when their course was 
finally arrested by an immense and impenetra- 
ble barrier of ice. There, in a harbour at this 
extreme point, they passed their first winter. 

This whole district abounds in furs of a valu- 
able description, and when it becomes better 
known, the traffic with the natives cannot but 
prove highly advantageous to the Hudson's Bay 
Company. 

They penetrated as far as the latitude of 70 
deg. north, and west longitude 92 deg., when 
the land, after carrying them as far east as 90 
deg. J took a westerly direction. The ice stop- 
ped them here on the 1st of October. 

In January of the ensuing year, 1830, they 
opened a communication with a tribe of natives 
who had previously never been visited by stran- 
gers. 

These natives, with whom they had con- 
siderable intercourse, are described by Captain 
Ross as possessing a primitive character for 
simplicity of manners, which, at the present 
day, it is almost vain to hope to find in any of 
the regions visited by our English navigators. 
They are mild and inoffensive in their manners, 
living in harmony with each other, and treating 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 1 17 

their children with extreme kindness and atten- 
tion. 

From these simple and primitive Esquimaux 
they learned, in the progress of the intercourse 
which grew up between them, that the east sea, 
or Atlantic, was divided from the west, the Pa- 
cific, only by a neck of land ; and as they stated 
this with great confidence, as if apparently the 
result of acquired and almost daily observation, 
Captain Ross determined on sending an expe- 
dition to ascertain the point. 

Commander Ross was accordingly sent to 
ascertain this point ; and both then, and during 
the subsequent exploring visits he made while 
there, was accompanied generally by four or 
five men. The number of times he went he 
himself states, in his testimony before the Com- 
mittee, to have been five or six, and that the 
greatest length of time at any one period was 
about a month. On two occasions he was about 
that period away ; at others about ten days or a 
fortnight. 

Commander Ross states that the whole crew 
together discovered about two hundred miles of 
coast in the ship. This was exclusive of what 
had already been discovered and surveyed by 
('aptain Sir Edward Parry during his third and 
final voyage. They went down Regent's Inlet 
till they came to the wreck of the Fury. The 
spot where this ship had been left by their pre- 
decessor was about a hundred miles to the 
southward of the north-eastern point of America, 
and they went down in the ship full two hun- 
dred miles beyond the wreck. 
11* 



118 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

Captain Ross's letter to the Lords of the Ad- 
niiralty, already given, states the result of his 
nephew's expedition to ascertain this point. 

While herOj the great object seems to have 
been the taking of meteorological observations ; 
these comprised the direction of the wind, its 
force, the state of the weather, and the height 
of the thermometer every hour for three years 
at nearly the same spot, which certainly sup- 
plies a great desideratum, as by its means the 
temperature of their locality may be compared 
with those of other parts of the globe. In order 
to direct his attention to this particular object 
and observations. Captain Ross states that he 
had had, before he left England, some corres- 
pondence with scientific men, particularly from 
the then president of the Royal Society, Davies 
Gilbert, esq., and another gentleman well known 
in the scientific world for his observations, pro- 
ductions, and discoveries. Sir David Brewster. 

Mr. Thorn had principally the meteorological 
journal in charge ; the men stationed to watch, 
having been taught to look regularly at the 
thermometer every hour, to note the wind, its 
direction and force, as already mentioned, and 
also the state of the weather ; and these they 
inserted in a log-book, kept for that purpose, 
every hour during the period of three years 
which they remained there. 

The lowest point at which the thermometer 
ever stood, din'in«T the period their stay here 
embraced, was sixty degrees and a half below 
zero, which is ninety-two and a half below the 
freezing point of Fahrenheit. This was in 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 119 

January, 1831. It was very seldom so low as 
that ; it had been frequently as low as eighty 
degrees below the freezing point, but never ex- 
cept once, for a few days, so low as ninety. 
They often however had eighty-five ; at this 
time there was no wind. 

In all former attempts to live under such an 
extreme degree of cold, death was the result ; 
as the melancholy cases of Sir Hugh Willough- 
by's ciew, who all perished and were found 
dead in their hut ; and the party of sailors at 
Spitzbergen, who were likewise all found dead 
with cold, but too well attest. 

Captain Ross attributes the preservation of 
his party from the fatal effects of cold, to the 
method they took of ventilating their hut and 
covering it with ice. They were also without 
spirits for the latter fifteen months of the voy- 
age, and he attributes to this fact a considerable 
portion of the healthy state in which the party 
were. They had also som.e cocoa during the 
greatest part of the time, but latterly the allow- 
ance was extremely limited, and for the last six 
months they remained, it was wholly exhausted. 
They had some coffee made of burnt peas. 

The letter written by Captain Ross, which we 
have already given, does not go much into de- 
tail ; but still it presents the main features of the 
proceedings of the expedition during the period 
of its absence. The Committee of the House 
of Commons, as will be perceived, did not press 
the gallant officer who commanded it, to dis- 
close, during the progress of his exarainatior 
before them, more of those details than he 



120 SECOND VOYAGK OP 

seemed willing to afford them. We are there- 
fore left somewhat in the dark on many points 
of great interest, but enough remains to render 
our narrative not only clear, but tolerably pre,- 
cise as to the great features of the events which 
took place during their residence in the inhos- 
pitable region, where they were so long ice- 
bound ; and also to afford a distinct idea of the 
nature and extent of the discoveries they ac- 
tually made. 

It was not at all unreasonable to expect that 
Captain Ross should have been, to some extent, 
jealous of giving more information than was ab- 
solutely necessary to justify his claim to any 
reward w^hich the Committee might think him 
fairly entitled to for the discoveries made. Of- 
fers of considerable sums of money have, it ap- 
pears, been made to his nephew, for the use of 
his notes and papers ; but with a highly credita- 
ble feeling of deference to his relation, he seems 
to have resolutely resisted all such temptations. 

We copy from the printed Report of the Ex- 
amination : — 

"41. The Committee have read a letter, ad- 
dressed to the Admiralty, from on board the 
Isabella, which gives a general statement of 
what took place during your last expedition ; is 
it your wish to have that entered as your state- 
ment ?— That will do well enough : I can ex- 
plain the scientific effect of the discovery of 
the magnetic pole." 

" 42. But the general narrative of those four 
years and a half, you consider quite sufficient in 
that statement ?— Yes." 



CAPTAIN EOSS, 121 

The effects of the discovery of the magnetic 
pole, the gallant officer then proceeds to state. 
They were, he says, when near the magnetic 
pole, in a position where the horizontal compass 
had no power of traversing to any particular 
point. The longitude where this curious phe- 
nomenon was observed, has not been ascertained 
with the precision which its importance to pur- 
poses both of science and commercial utility 
would require ; but it is stated to be, as nearly 
as they could make out, about 96 deg. 47 min. 
of west longitude. Captain Parry, it seems, 
suggested its probable position. 

Captain Ross states, that it was within about 
thirty leagues of the spot which Captain Parry 
supposed probable. When the compass was 
placed on the spot where the locale of the mag- 
netic pole is situate, the power of attraction was 
at right angles to the needle, and of course its 
power of turning in either direction horizontally 
was completely lost. 

We shall pursue Captain Ross's statement in 
reference to the magnetic pole, in order not to 
break in on the continuity of his narrative. In 
answer to a series of questions from various 
members of the Committee, he states that one 
of the most important results which their being 
at the pole enabled them to arrive at, was ob- 
serving the effects of various agents on the 
needle itself. The points which thus came under 
observation were the effect which light, heat, 
and all other combinations that may form part of 
the magnetic influence, when in conjunction 
with that influence, had upon the needle, when 



122 SECOND VOYAGE OP 

at liberty to act upon it without such conjunction. 
One of the most curious of these observations 
was that when the sun went round, they saw the 
magnetic needle following it, realizing the poet- 
ical illustration of the sunflower, and the god 
whom it is supposed to worship, turning to where 
he sets with 

" The same look that she turned when he rose." 
This fact at once established, what had been a 
desideratum in science, that the sun does not 
possess an influence on the magnet, or that its 
heat and light partake in the mysterious agency 
which makes the mariner's safety. The light 
of a candle had also an eflect in a very dimi- 
nished degree upon the magnet. There can be 
no doubt that these facts establish a matter of 
considerable importance to science, inasmuch as 
they infallibly demonstrate the connexion be- 
tween light and heat and magnetism. Metallic 
substances also produced some impression here 
on the magnet ; the brass buttons of the coat 
attracting the north point of the needle towards 
them. 

The .position of the magnetic pole had, it ap- 
pears, been decided at the time when these phe- 
nomena were observed, by previous observa- 
tions. They had by a series of such observations 
determined that they were within a very short 
distance, at the spot where the ship lay imbed- 
ded in the ice, from the magnetic pole ; and by 
continuing their observations, and remarking 
the variations as they were successively indi- 
cated, they arrived on the very spot. Before 
they reached it, they were at a variation of 90 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 123 

deg. westerly, having previously to that been 
twice that extent of variation, viz. 180 deg. 
They passed round the spot where the magnetic 
pole exists, and whichever way they passed as 
they went round it, the compass turned towards 
it horizontally ; and when they were to the 
north or south of it, they turned a variation of 
180 deg. ; when they were east or west, their 
variation was exactly 90 deg. This increased 
by degrees as they proceeded round it, and the 
observations were made with instruments of the 
nicest accuracy, and most delicate construction, 
being hung on hairs ; some of them were con- 
structed by Dollond for the express purpose of 
taking these and other observations made during 
the progress of the expedition. 

The Committee then, in order to establish the 
claim, undisputed and undivided, of Captain 
Ross to this important discovery, and to show 
that, although two of the adventurous English 
seamen who had preceded him in these seas, 
had guessed with a tolerable degree of accuracy 
at the position of the magnetic pole, still they 
had not made the actual discovery, put the fol- 
lowing questions : — 

" 55. Although Captain Parry never arrived 
at the point of the magnetic pole, is it not the 
case that he had ascertained its situation by ex- 
periments that he had made 1 — Certainly not (is 
Captain Ross's answer.) Captain Parry is as 
much on the one side as Captain Franklin was 
on the other ; and it is an extraordinary fact, the 
mean between the two comes within a short dis- 
tance of the actual spot. 



124 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

" 56. Does Captain Parry state in any part 
of his despatches to the Admiralty, or in his 
work, that he discovered the magnetic pole ? — 
No. 

" 57. He lays no claim to it? — No ; he only 
stated the supposed position of it, which turned 
out to be a hundred miles erroneous, 

"58. Within what area do you conceive you 
have reduced the situation of it? — One mile." 

Subsequently, in the progress of his examina- 
tion. Captain Ross stated on this point, that the 
actual position of the magnetic pole was faken 
by observations by Commander Ross, who re- 
ported to his uncle, that he had reached the ac- 
tual spot. This fully accorded with the Cap- 
tain's own observations at the ship, and at se- 
veral other places at a short distance from the 
position where his nephew laid it down. He is 
asked : — 

" 233. Are the Committee to understand, that 
at several particular spots, that particular posi- 
tion of the magnetic needle took place, which 
authorizes you to assert such spot or spots to be 
the true position of the magnetic pole ; in other 
words, did the needle dip perpendicularly at 
more than one spot, and if at more than one, 
what was the distance between any one and any 
other?" 

To which his answer is, — 

"The needle dips more at the exact spot 
where the magnetic pole was found, than at any 
other spot." 

" 234. What was the area ? — I think within a 
mile ; but all these things are going through a 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 125 

Committee ; there is a Committee of sciemific 
calculations ; there is a spherical calculation by 
scientific people on shore, which will make the 
necessary allowances for the spherical figure of 
the earth." 

This spot, where the true magnetic pole was 
discovered, was first named after the Duke of 
Clarence ; but the day after the arrival of Cap. 
tain Ross in London, he waited on his Majesty, 
at Windsor, and received the Royal permission 
to change the name to that of " King Wil- 
liam." 

It was not, however, Captain Ross who him- 
self visited this spot; that duty devolved upon 
his nephew, who planned and executed the voy- 
ages of discovery made from the spot where 
their ship lay imbedded in the ice. This gen- 
tleman states the whole extent of geographical 
discovery to be perhaps between six or seven 
hundred miles of new land ; and out of that six 
or seven hundred miles, probably about two 
hundred miles were discovered by the whole 
expedition in the ship ; the remaining four or 
five hundred miles were discovered and explored 
by himself, in the conduct of parties detached 
from the ship, which were all planned and car- 
ried on under his separate guidance and control ; 
Captain Ross not accompanying him in their 
progress. From the personal observations 
which Commander Ross had been making dur- 
ing the two years he was ice-bound in the Vic- 
tory, he inferred that he had discovered the true 
position of the north magnetic pole. The na- 
ture of those observations was directed to the 
12 



126 SFXO]SD VOYAGE OF 

determination of its exact position ; and having 
by these means ascertained and determined the 
precise spot, he then conducted a party of the 
crew to the spot so determined on, and there 
made a series of observations by vi^hich he as- 
certained the correctness of the calculations 
made from his previous observations, and that he 
had reached the true site of the magnetic pole. 
These observations have since been communi- 
cated to the Royal Society, who immediately 
directed that they should be printed in the Phi- 
losophical Transactions. 

Captain Charles Beaufort, R. N., who was 
himself employed by the Admiralty, in a voyage 
of observation to the Arctic Seas, states as his 
opinion, founded rather however on general be» 
lief, than any certain data, that the magnetic pole 
is a revolving point, but that he could not say in 
what direction. He adds, when asked whether 
he has any reason to believe that Captain Ross 
discovered, or that he approached the temporary 
position of the magnetic pole during this voy- 
age ? that his opinion is, from what Captain Ross 
says, that he appears to have been very near it ; 
and that his observations very nearly agree with 
those of Captain Franklin and Captain Parry, 
in their previous voya les : that they all point to 
about the same place, but he much nearer to it 
than his predecessors. He afterwards strength- 
ens this statement by declaring that he thinks 
either he or his nephew approached close to it^ 
from the description they give of their observa- 
tions. 

" Did he," asks a member of the Committee.. 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 127 

(258,) '^ fix the situation of the magnetic pole 
with greater accuracy than had been previously 
done by others? — I think whoever approached 
nearest to it may be considered to have the best 
claim to that honour ; but there can be no spe- 
cific or precise point within a degree or half a 
degree ; like the point of a needle, its exact po- 
sition must be involved in doubt, even with the 
most accurate observation, and can be deter- 
mined only by observing the direction of the 
needle at several different points around it." 

Mr. Children, one of the Secretaries of the 
Royal Society, however, in his answers, appears 
to be not quite so niggard of the praise which he 
thinks the discovery of the magnetic pole de- 
mands. It is his opinion, from what he knows 
of Captain Ross's discoveries during this voyage, 
that the expedition has been productive of im- 
portant advantages to science. His own words 
are : " I think it has been productive of import- 
ant advantage to science, by Commander Ross's 
having clearly ascertained the position of the 
north magnetic pole : I think that there is a 
singular coincidence in the spot which he has 
determined by experiments to be the true posi- 
tion of the north magnetic pole, and that infer- 
red from philosophical considerations by Profes- 
sor Barlow. Professor Barlow published a pa- 
per in the last Philosophical Transactions, on 
magnetic lines of equal variation ; at the con- 
clusion of that paper he says, that to which I 
will beg the attention of the Committee, it will 
perhaps put in a stronger light the importance 
of that discovery than any thing I can say. It 



128 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

is a postscript to Mr. Barlow's paper on the pre- 
sent situation of the magnetic lines of equal va- 
riation : it is dated November 18, 1833 : — 
* Since this paper was read, and the globe and 
chart referred to in this article were drawn. Cap- 
tain Ross has returned from his long and adven- 
turous voyage. It will be seen by a reference 
to the Polar Chart, that although I was enabled 
to lay down the curves of equal variation to 
within a few degrees of their point of concur- 
rence, yet they are all terminated before arriving 
at it, for want of sufficient data. These are 
now supplied ; and it is very gratifying to me, 
as I hope it may be also to Captain Ross and to 
Commander James Ross, to find that the very 
spot in which they have found the needle perpen- 
dicular — that is, the pole itself— is precisely that 
point on my globe and chart in which, by suppo- 
sing all the lines to meet, the several curves would 
best preserve their unity of character, both se- 
parately and conjointly, as a system.' The im- 
portance, as it strikes me," continues Mr. Chil- 
dren, " of their coincidence, is this : it is clearly 
of very great importance to navigation to know 
what the variation of the needle is in every part, 
and the lines of equal variation which Professor 
Barlow has laid down, will be in that respect 
extremely important if they are true ; their co- 
incidence with the actual observations of Com- 
mander James Ross must necessarily give a 
great confidence in them, as a posteriori proof of 
the accuracy of the calculations he had come to 
by a priori reasoning — an experimental proof 
of the accuracy of what he had laid down." 



CAPTAIX ROSS. 129 

We have here concurrent testimony from 
<}uarters not alone qualified to pronounce upon 
the merits of the discovery made by Commander 
Ross of the exact position of the north magnetic 
pole, but beyond all suspicion as to the truth and 
sincerity of their opinions. Had the expedition 
been attended with no other beneficial result, it 
would have well merited the parliamentary re- 
ward which was besiowed upon its enterprising 
commander, the promotion, his officers received, 
and the increased pay given to the crew from 
the Lords of the Admiralty. The sum recom- 
mended to be voted to Captain Ross was £5000, 
an amount v/hich it will be seen by reference to 
his own account of what he expended on the 
objects of the ex}>edition from his own private 
fortune, is hardly sufficient to cover what he ac- 
tually laid out. The Committee, in their Re- 
port, which prefaces the testimony of the wit- 
ne^ses examined, adverting to this point, say : — 

" Captain Ross alone, the commander of the 
expedition, who had the anxious and painful re- 
sponsibility of the health and discipline of the 
party for above four years, under circumstances 
of unparalleled difiiculty and hardship, and who 
had the merit of maintaining both health and 
discipline in a remarkable degree, (for only one 
man in twenty. three was lost in consequence of 
the expedition,) is, owing to his rank, not in a 
situation to receive any reward from the Admi- 
ralty in the way of promotion. Having incurred 
expenses and losses to the amount of nearly 
three thousand pounds, and received no more 
than the halfpav which had accumulated during 
12* 



130 s^x'o^'D voyage of 

the expedition,* he remains with the same rank 
with which he went out. Under these circum- 
stances, and looking to the advantages to science 
and the honour to his country which have re- 
sulted from the expedition under his command ; 
looking to the expense which the country has 
been willing to incur on former occasions for 
similar expeditions, and to the rewards which 
it has voted even for far less important and ho- 
nourable objects, your Committee hope they are 
not transgressing the bounds of a due regard to 
public economy, in recommending that a sum 
of five thousand pounds be voted to Captain 
John Ross." 

Had the Committee recommended double the 
sum just stated, we doubt whether two indivi- 
duals, capable of appreciating the advantages 
thus slightly reverted to in the Report, could be 
found in England to say that it was more than 
he had well merited. Indeed the Committee 
seem impressed with all these advantages them- 
selves ; for in their Report they say, " The im- 
portance, especially to a maritime nation, of this 
discovery, and of the observations connected 
with magnetic science arising thereout, is most 
highly estimated by the scientific witnesses who 
have been examined, and is further attested by 



'^ To which should be added, when forming the estimate 
of Captain Ross's losses, the amount of interest due on the 
sums as they became payable to him ; this would have made 
about two hundred pounds, which his agent was not able lo 
receive without a certificate from him, and that of course was 
put of the question. 



CAPTAIN ROSSc 131 

the zeal with which this branch of science has 
been of late pursued by eminent men in every 
country, and by the expense which several fo- 
reign governments have of late years incurred 
for the same object." 

The allusion in the latter part of this extract 
refers to the government of Norway, which has 
given Hanstein, known for the accuracy of his 
researches and deductions on the subject of the 
magnetic pole, the sum of £3000 to prosecute 
his discoveries in Siberia. Russia has also been 
pursuing inquiries on the same subject with great 
Zeal within the last few years. It was one of the 
leading objects of Kotzebue's voyage to ascer- 
tain the position of the north pole, and also of 
Hanstein's. The French too have been paying 
great attention to the discoveries of magnetism ; 
and M. Arrago and others have devoted much 
time and attention to the whole subject, espe- 
cially that branch of it which comes under the 
denomination of electric magnetism ; and our 
countryman, Mr. Faraday, has been directing 
the energies of his mind to the same subject. 

In Felix Harbour they remained until May 
the 29th> 1832, and it was here the discoveries 
were made which we owe to this expedition ; 
the laying down of the Gulf of Boothia, and of 
the Continent and Isthmus of Boothia Felix, 
with, as Captain Ross's letter to the Admiralty 
states, " a vast number of islands, rivers, and 
lakes, and the undeniable establishment that the 
) north-east point of America extends to the 74th 
degree of north latitude." Of the period spent 
here, nearly three years, Captain Ross's letter 



132 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

gives rather a hurried outline. 'Vo lliis we 
are enabled, from the testimony of the gallant 
commander and his officers, to add some inte- 
resting particulars of what occurred during their 
stay. 

]3uring the whole autumn of 1830, the voy- 
agers patiently but vainly awaited the hoped-for 
dissolu'iioo of the ice, an event which had taken 
place the year preceding. It was in vain, how- 
ever, that they now expected this breaking up 
of the masses of congealed matter which kept 
them in close custody ; they were unable to 
retrace their course to any greater extent than 
four or five miles, when they were again ar- 
rested by the inexorable barriers which had 
kept them so long ice-bound. This winter (1830) 
was unparalleled in its severity, the temperature 
descendintj to a greater depth below the freez- 
ing point than we have had any record or uc- 
count of before. 

The natives having informed the party, during 
their sojourn here early in the year 1830, that 
about forty miles to the south-west of Felix 
Harbour there vvere tv.'o great seas, divided from 
each other by a narrow neck of land. Comman- 
der Ross was detached early in April, accom- 
panied by one of the mates, and guided by two 
of the natives, to ascertain the point. They 
found that the intelligence communicated by the 
natives was correct, and that the northern and 
southern continents were connected by two 
ridges of high land, about fifteen miles in 
breadth. The Committee, in reference to this, 
state, that the expedition has produced " the de- 



CAPTAirs^ ROSS. 133 

monstration, that one passage, which had been 
considered by preceding navigators to be one 
of the most likely to lead from the Atlantic to 
the Pacijfiic Ocean, does not exist, thus narrow- 
ing the field for future expeditions, should any 
such be undertaken." 

The examination of Captain Ross on this 
point is so positive, as to his belief that no pas- 
sage exists here, or indeed at all to the south- 
ward of the seventy-fourth degree of latitude, 
that we extract it entire : — 

" 170. Do you conceive you have ascertained 
the fact, that there is no practicable communi- 
cation between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 1 
— Positively, to the southward of the seventy- 
fourth degree. 

*' 171. You do not mean to express an opinion 
decidedly, that it is impossible there should be a 
communication discovered farther north ? — Cer- 
tainly not. 

" 172. But such communication would be of 
no benefit to commerce if it should exist ? — No. 

" ]73. Being in so high a latitude ? — It could 
not. 

" 174. You still think it is possible there may 
be a practicable communication ?^— I think it 
possible, but not very probable. 

•' 175. You have no reason to suppose that 
the land discontinues to the westward? — I have 
no reason to suppose that it does, or that it does 
not." 

Captain Ross had, it appears, visited this 
isthmus himself, after his nephew had been sent 
thither, and was therefore competent, from ac- 



134 SECOND VOYAGE OP 

tual observation, to pronounce a decided opinion 
on the point at issue. He mentions a curious 
and conclusive proof that no such passage ex- 
ists, in the fact that there is a considerable dif- 
ference in the altitude of the two seas east and 
w^est of Boothia Felix. The conclusion which 
he draws from this, and it is almost a self-evi- 
dent one as far as reasoning a priori can pro- 
ceed, is, that there is no such passage ; but he 
admits, reasonably enough, that it is only a ne- 
gative argument at best. The difference of alti- 
tude which was there perceptible amounts fully 
to thirteen feet, but we do not find it stated 
whether the east or west sea is the higher. The 
Captain states, in reply to a question put to him 
in the Committee on this point, that upon the 
supposition that the land is continuous north- 
ward from the seventy-fourth degree to the pole, 
we should expect to find that difference of alti- 
tude in the seas from the rotative motion of the 
earth. 

The discovery of this difference of altitude 
between the two seas, bounding the isthmus 
which unites Boothia with the continent of 
America, was made by a party under the sole 
conduct of Captain Ross, at a time when his 
nephew was engaged on other service, and 
could consequently have no opportunity, ac- 
cording to Captain Ross, of ascertaining the 
fact. The discovery was made at two difterent 
periods, when the chief of the expedition went 
in June, 1830, and at the end of May in the 
subsequent year, with provisions to Commander 
Ross, then out on two of the exploring parties, 



CAPTAI^' ROSS. 135 

which he was in the constant habit of making 
during the whole period of their detention in 
Boothia Felix. There can be no doubt of the 
fact as Captain Ross stales it ; as the observa- 
tions made at those two different periods give 
the same result ; and the measurements were 
made in the usual way with the theodolite, and 
the process, to those who understand it, is not 
only very simple, but incapable of leading to 
error. There are, it seems, eight feet rise and 
fall of tide on the east side of the isthmus, and 
only fourteen inches on the west side : this was 
tried each time on the spot, and the result found 
to be, without variation of any extent, the same. 
Captain Ross broke a hole in the ice, to ascer- 
tain the point with the greater nicety. 

Captain Beaufort says, that this discovery 
that no passage exists in the Inlet, adds a short 
but very important link to our knowledge of the 
geography of the northern extremity of Ame- 
rica ; but he says, that while thus far its im- 
portance is indisputable, it throws no new light 
on the navigation of the Arctic seas. Captain 
Parry supposed, that there might be a channel 
through Prince Regent's Inlet, into the Pacific 
Ocean. The closing up of this inlet narrows 
the range within which a north-west passage 
may be found to a very short compass, by one 
of its openings at least. But there are, it ap- 
pears, three from the end of Lancaster Sound, 
still open, by which success may be perhaps at- 
tainable. These are by the Wellington Chan- 
nel to the north-west, that is by going to the 
northward of the chain of islands discovered bv 



136 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

Captain Parry, and approximating the Pole. 
The islands are those which now go by the 
name of the North Georgian Islands, including 
Sabine Island, Bathurst Island, &c. Another 
proceeds by Melville Island, in the same di- 
rection that Captain Parry had previously tried ; 
in the voyage of 1818 he proceeded as far west 
as 115 degrees of longitude, and in latitude 74 
degrees. And the third, according to Captain 
Beaufort's supposition, would be by getting to 
the south-west, as soon as the vessel has passed 
the Capo which Captain Ross supposes to be 
the northern extreme of America; and then 
endeavouring to get over to the shore laid down 
by Captain Franklin and Dr. Richardson, in the 
expedition of 1825-27, in the direction of the 
Coppermine River. Captain Beaufort is pressed 
on this point and asked : 

*' 280. Do you consider that the closing the 
most southerly outlet, closes that supposed to be 
most likely to be practicable ? — No," is his 
answer ; " for that is not the route I should 
have taken, if employed on that service. 

•'281. Do you conceive," the Committee 
again ask, "that the question is settled up to 
the 74th degree of north latitude ? — We know 
of no openings between that latitude and Hud- 
son's Bay. 

" 282. How far east of Melville Island did 
Captain Ross come? — Twenty degrees of lon- 
gitude ; but the degrees of longitude there are 
very small. 

" 283. Was the passage by Prince Regent's 
Inlet considered, before this expedition, as the 



CAPTAI^' ROSS. 137 

most likely ? — There was always a great differ- 
ence of opinion on that subject, amongst those 
who pursued the inqui^5^ 

" 234. Was that Captain Parry's opinion ? — 
I really do not recollect ; i had not much con- 
versation with him upon that part of the subject. 

" 286. If the sea had been clear of ice, there 
would have been a great probability of finding 
a passage ? — Undoubtedly, as it would have af- 
forded the shortest road to Franklin's Coast." 

While on this part of the subject, as to the 
practicability of the future discovery of a north- 
west passage, we should consult the testimony 
of Commander Ross, who personally examined 
more of the coast than his uncle ; and who had 
accompanied all the previous expeditions of dis- 
covery to those shores, made for some years 
before. He had served in five such voyages, 
and passed fourteen summers and eight winters 
in those seas. His experience, therefore, must 
be considered as possessing very great weight 
in coming to a sound judgment on the point. 
He says, that the closing of Prince Regent's In- 
let depends, on actual survey, to a certain ex- 
tent only ; and so far is he from thinking that 
this voyage has furnished any conclusion against 
the existence of a north-west passage, he de- 
clares that it has, on the contrary, in his opinion 
at least, only made it more certain that a north- 
west passage must exist. He gives as the rea- 
sons for entertaining this belief, the result of 
observations he made during this expedition; 
and the knowledge derived from the additional 
portion of the continent of America explored on 
13 



138 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

this occasion, on its northern coast, and of the 
western coast of Boothia. 

The questions put by the members of the 
Committee to Commander Ross on this point 
are extracted in full : — 

" 371. Do you beheve that it would be practi- 
cable to go through that north-west passage ? 
There is no question that it would be much 
more easy, now that we are acquainted with 
the nature of the formation of the continent of 
America. 

"372. Would it be best accomplished by 
steam or by sailing ? By sailing. 

"373. Supposing this to be accomplished, 
would it be at all beneficial to commerce ? It is 
quite uncertain what benefit may result from it ; 
in favourable seasons it may be possible to get 
through it with very little difficulty ; for in- 
stance, in our last voyage we sailed in an open 
sea, where it is usually covered with ice ; but it 
was a remarkable favourable season ; such sea- 
sons may occur periodically ; if so, there would 
be no difficulty, on those occasions, in getting 
from Baffin's Bay to Behring's Straits, 

" 374. Do you believe that any attempt to 
penetrate would be attended with danger ? No- 
thing more than the ordinary danger of navi- 
gating those northern seas. 

" 375. Any more than in a common whaling 
expedition ? None ; except a little more, per- 
haps, from being necessarily close in with the 
land ; but nothing to deter the attempt. 

" 83. Is there any difficulty in navigating 
The only difficulty in 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 139 

that is on account of the tides, which are stronger 
there than they are in Lancaster Sound, from its 
being a more contracted space." 

From this it is evident that a discrepancy of 
opinion exists, (although, perhaps, on explana- 
tion, as the questions proposed to both the offi- 
cers, by members of the Committee, are not very 
precise, it may be rendered perfectly reconcil- 
able,) between Captain Ross and his nephew, 
as to the probability of the sought-for pas- 
sage still being discovered. It seems that 
Commander Ross was not, up to the moment 
of his examination, aware of the discovery 
his uncle had made, that the two seas, 
right and left of the isthmus which unites 
Boothia with the continent of America, are of 
different altitudes ; as he says, he had not the 
means of ascertaining the fact with accuracy ; 
and he is further of opinion, that it would take 
at least two or three months to ascertain it, with 
the necessary degree of accuracy such an ob- 
servation would require. Indeed, on this head 
he goes still further, and declares that Captain 
Ross may have made observations which have 
satisfied his mind, but he (Commander Ross) 
doubts whether he can have made observations 
that would satisfy the minds of those who may 
investigate the matter. 

Boothia, the region where they remained dur- 
ing their sojourn in the Victory, is in lat. 70 
deg. north, and long. 92 deg. west ; ^^the land," 
we are quoting Captain Ross's description, " is 
entirely of primitive formation, the rocks being 
composed of various kinds of granite, and desti- 
tute of vegetation, except in the valleys, in some 



140 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

of which are lakes of a considerable size, but 
frozen over, excepting a part of July, August, 
and September. Reindeer, hares, and foxes, 
were seen here, and two kinds of grouse and 
hares were also constantly ranging along the 
coast." 

While here, on the 9th of January, 1830, 
Captain Ross and his officers having previously 
fallen in with a party of Esquimaux, whose con- 
fidence they were speedily enabled to gain by 
giving them trifling presents, persuaded them to 
accompany his party to the Victory. In honour 
of this visit the ship had all her colours flying. 
We have the names of two of the tribe, lUictu 
and Tullooachiu, both of whom the crew drew 
in sledges for some distance. 

An island, a little to the left of the spot where 
the Victory lay, formed the harbour, and on 
this island, on a high headland, the observatory 
was erected. ]t contained a three feet transit 
instrument and a six feet telescope, at which fre- 
quent observations were made of the planets 
and other heavenly phenomena. 

Since his arrival in this country, Captain Ross 
has afforded Mr. Burford, the proprietor of the 
Panoramic exhibitions, the means of gratifying 
the public curiosity with respect to Boothia ; and 
a view of the position of the ship on the day 
already stated as that of the visit from the Es- 
quimaux, has accordingly been exhibited for 
some time past. The little descriptive volume 
placed in the visitor's hand gives the following 
sketch of the appearance, &c., of the country* 
As the whole has been got up under the im- 



CAPTAIiN ROSS. 141 

mediate personal superintendence of Captain 
Ross, its accuracy may of course be depend- 
ed on. 

" The sea around (the ship) presents one 
continued field of ice, towering icebergs of 
gigantic size, and singularly fantastic form ; 
immense masses thrown up by pressure, called 
hummocks ; pyramids, cavities, and an endless 
variety of forms, heaped together in wild dis- 
order ; from some huge stalactitae are gracefully 
pendent, others are surrounded by sparry crystal 
and brilliant icicles, the prominent surfaces 
tinged with the most vivid emerald and violet 
tints, and the most intense blue shades lurking in 
the recesses, presenting a spleiidid exhibition of 
icy grandeur. 

" The continent called by Captain Ross 
Boothia, and the adjacent islands, present near- 
ly the same appearance, being only distinguish- 
able from the ocean by the bare sides of steep 
and precipitous rocks which occasionally rise to 
a great height, presenting horizontal and per- 
pendicular strata of primitive granite ; and in 
some places vast masses are piled with extreme 
regularity, in others so confused that they evi- 
dently mark some violent convulsion of nature. 
These dark and frowning precipices, without the 
least marks of vegetation, form a singular con- 
trast with the pinnacles of ice, and the sparkling 
whiteness of the surrounding snow. On every 
side the eye stretches over one interminable 
field of ice and snow, whose very barrenness is 
beautiful, but which conveys a feeling of total 
privation and utter desolation. 
13* 



142 SECOND VOYAGB OF 

" Towards the south, the horizon was over- 
spread by an arch of bright and splendid crim^ 
son hght, which was always visible about noony 
even when the sun was at its greatest southern 
declination ; indeed, the return of what might 
be corfisidered day was always marked by so con- 
siderable a light, that by turning a book towards 
the south, the smallest print might be read with- 
out difficulty ; and the brightness of the moon 
and stars, toj^ether with the reflection from the 
sun, rendered anything approaching a deep or 
positive gloom of rare occurrence. The op- 
posite portion of the hemisphere was splendidly 
illumined by that extraordinary and beautiful 
phenomenon, the Aurora Boreaiis, vividly dart- 
ing its brilliant coruscations towards the zenith 
in endless variety, and tinging the ice and snow 
with its pale and mellow light ; the remaining 
portions of the sky are clear, dark, and un- 
clouded, thickly studded with numberless stars, 
shining with peculiar lustre, the whole forming 
a striking and romantic scene, difficult to con- 
ceive, and impossible to describe ; the awful 
grandeur and sublimity of which cannot be con- 
templated but with the most intense interest and 
enthusiastic admiration." 

This spot was singularly destitute ofvegetable 
productions, the only thing produced there 
being a little sorrel. The only botanic dis- 
coveries they made were some small plants in- 
cident to all these climates. Three new ones 
spring up in the month of August ; none of 
these, however, are used as vegetables, except 
a little sorrel occasionally. At Fury Beach, 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 143 

but of course all this time out of their reach, 
there were some preserved vegetables. 

The exploring expedition to the isthmus, be- 
tween the two seas, was the principal feature of 
this year's proceedings. Commander Ross dis- 
covered that it consisted of two ridges of high 
land, about 15 miles in breadth, inlersected by a 
chain of fresh-water lakes, reducing the actual 
dry land to about one-fifth of the whole width. 
He subsequently surveyed the seacoast south 
oi'the isthmus, as far as the ninety. ninth degree, 
or about a distance of 150 miles from Cape 
Turnagain of Fianklin. He also surveyed thirty 
miles of coast to the north of the isthmus, and as 
much to the southward as left no doubt that the 
land joined Repulse Bay ; and he determined 
that there was no passage southward for thirty 
miles to the north of their then position. 

In the latter period of the summer, they de- 
termined to try and explore a more northern 
latitude, in search of the expected opening; but 
owing to the vast quantity of ice which remain- 
ed throughout the whole time, they could only 
succeed with immense and unceasing labours, 
by all the means in their power, in retracing 
their steps for the trifling distance of four miles 
to a spot which they denominated Sheriff's Har- 
hour, where the winter of 1830-31 was passed. 
The exploring expeditions were not suspended, 
as far as they were practicable, during this 
period. Captain Ross himself surveyed fifty 
miles more of tlie coast, and ascertained the 
important point, that there was no passage in 
existence below the seventy-first degree. 



144 SECO?vD VOYAGE OF 

It was while here that the thermometer fell 
to the lowest degree of which we have any re- 
cord, viz. 92 below the freezing point ; the suf- 
ferings of the officers and crew during this pe- 
riod may therefore be judged of from this soli- 
tary fact. 

In the autumn of 1831, they were enabled to 
bring the Victory a further distance of fourteen 
miles to the northward, but still they had not 
been able to reach the East Cape, so as to dou- 
ble it, and their provisions becoming nearly ex- 
hausted, they began first seriously to think of 
abandoning the ship, in order to reach the beach 
where the boats and provisions of the Fury 
were. 

On the arrival of the Victory in Felix Har- 
bour, every possible arrangement had been 
made to render the situation of the officers and 
crew as comfortable as, under the circum- 
stances, it was possible to render them. The 
whole of the deck was covered over at a mode- 
rate height with sail cloth properly stretched on 
spars. The whole of the steam machinery was 
removed. A snow wall of considerable thick- 
ness, about seven feet, composed of large blocks, 
was erected, to defend the vessel from the nor- 
thern blasts, and the still more dangerous snow 
drifts which were daily driven on them. Another 
great advantage they felt from this wall, as well 
as from the situation in which they were when 
Captain Ross describes them as " the inhabit- 
ants of an iceberg," was that the non-conduct- 
ing power of the snow retained the heat longer 
than otherwise would have been the case : 



CAPTAIN BOSS. 145 

within this wall also the men usually exercised, 
when it was too stormy for them to walk on 
shore or to a distance. 

We shall now proceed to give some account 
of the circumstances of unparalleled difficulty 
and hardship attending this part of the expedi- 
tion, to which the Committee advert in their re- 
port. The determination to quit Felix Harbour, 
as the place where they now were was called, 
was come to early in the beginning of 1832 ; 
but they were prevented, by the severity of the 
winter, from putting it into execution until the 
29th of May, when they set off on foot for Fury 
Beach, a distance of about two hundred miles to 
the northward. In the course of this journey, 
they underwent very great suifering, as they 
had to carry their fuel, their provisions, their 
sick, and their tents, and specimens. The whole 
of this journey was over ice and snow, and oc- 
casionally on land covered with snow. The 
greatest want which they experienced in their 
toilsome progress, was that of water, as they 
had to dissolve the snow to obtain it whenever 
required. Although the distance in a straight 
line, if they could have adopted such a course, 
was not more than two hundred miles, still, from 
the devious route they were obliged to pursue, 
it was fully one half more than that, or upwards 
of three hundred miles which they had to tra- 
verse in these circumstances of danger and dis- 
tress. Latterly their only beverage consisted 
of water and lime juice, and this it was neces- 
sary to give out rather sparingly. Their suffer- 
ings from the cold, however, exceeded every 



146 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

thing they had before undergone. From this 
every individual of the whole number compo- 
sing the expedition suffered severely. When 
they made a stop at night, and they were not 
less than thirty-two days and nights travelling 
these three hundred miles, the only means of 
accommodation they possessed was a bag to 
sleep in. Each traveller had his own bag, which 
he tied tight round his neck, the whole body be- 
ing covered by it : this mode was adopted to 
prevent the feet from getting out by any chance, 
an event which, had it happened, was certain to 
be the forerunner to a frostbitten limb. The 
face also was similarly covered, and, for greater 
security as well as comfort, tied down to the 
ground. 

" 84. You lay close together ?" asks a mem- 
ber of the Committee of Captain Ross, and his 
answer is thus given : " Yes ; we dug a trench 
in the snow, and covered it with canvas, then 
covered that with snow, and then went in ; the 
trench was enough just to contain seven people. 
We had three trenches, one officer went into 
each, and we then got into our bags and crept 
close together during the time we were asleep. 

" 85. What were you resting on ? — On the 
frozen snow. 

" 86. What was the bag made of? — Gene- 
rally of a double blanket : some had them lined 
with skin. 

" 87. What was the greatest degree of cold 
you observed during your journey ?— Thirty- 
two below zero, which is sixty-four below the 
freezing point of Fahrenheit." 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 147 

We can add nothing to this plain unadorned 
statement, to show the reader the nature and 
extent of the sufferings the party must have en- 
dured. 

From this journey, Captain Ross himself, in 
consequence of his wounds, suffered very much 
in constitution. He states it as his opinion, that 
if his men had had another hundred miles to 
perform, they could not have accomplished it, 
as they were all quite exhausted when they 
reached Fury Beach ; and at that time they had 
only one day's provision left. They did not 
reach Fury Beach until the first of July. Du- 
ring this journey the men were only served out 
with half-allowance, so that to the evils inflicted 
upon them by the climate, and the toil of daily 
travel, there was added the lassitude arising 
from a deficiency of sustenance. So badly off 
were they in this respect, that it was necessary 
to send Commander Ross, accompanied by two 
of the stoutest and strongest of the party, to 
Fury Beach, in advance considerably of their 
companions, in order to ascertain if the stores, 
or any part of them remained in the Fury ; for 
had they gone there without finding the pro- 
visions, the whole, or at all events the greater 
portion of the party must have perished. He 
was, however, successful in finding them all 
safe, and returning with a supply of what was 
so much needed, enabled the whole party to 
reach the Fury. A question and answer, the 
latter particularly, proposed to and given by 
Commander Ross, in reference to this critical 
point of the proceedings of the expedition, is so 



148 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

characteristic of tiie real nature of the dangers 
they had individually to encounter, that we can- 
not refrain from placing both before the reader. 

" 355. What would have been your own fate, 
if you had not found the Fury's stores? — I 
should still have subsisted on my own personal 
exertions ; hut I would not have rendered assist- 
ance to others. ^^ 

It was extremely fortunate, both on this oc- 
c sion and on the first visit of the expedition to 
Fury Beach, that Commander Ross was one of 
those who went out, as it was to him that Cap- 
tain Parry had intrusted the management of 
burying the Fury's provisions at the period when 
he had been obliged to abandon her on that 
coast. He was therefore at once enabled to 
proceed to the spot, from his personal know- 
ledge of the precise place where they had been 
then deposited. 

On the arrival of the party here, on the 1st 
of August, they found that the boats belonging 
to the Fury had been washed out to sea from 
the positions where they had been secured at 
the beach ; but they had been again driven in 
near the same place, so that they had not much 
difficulty in getting at them. A considerable 
time, however, was spent in repairing and ren- 
dering them fit for sea, as upon them now de- 
pended the main chance of ultimate escape from 
their desolate position. They also constructed 
a temporary hut here, and having made all their 
arrangem.ents for again trying the sea, as com- 
plete as they could, by the 1st of July, they 
were enabled to get out to sea. 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 149 

They reached the spot where the Fury had 
been first cast on shore. The most complete 
narrative of the subsequent events will be found 
in Captain Ross's own letter to the Lords Com- 
missioners of the Admiralty, given in page 100, 
et seq. 

Captain Ross stated, in addition to the par- 
ticulars here given, in his examination, some 
interesting facts. The allowance of provisions 
at Fury Beach, when they left it on the 14th of 
August, in the first year they went out, he cal- 
culated, at short allowance, would make about 
half a year's provisions for the whole ship's com. 
pany ; but he adds, that they calculated that 
only one half of them would have got back — an- 
ticipation which Providence fortunately ren- 
dered futile — and that then the provisions would 
have lasted a whole year for those who survived. 
In consequence ofthis, their fears naturally began 
to be excited as to failure of provisions ; and this 
it was which impelled their homeward course, 
even when it was undertaken, as Captain Ross 
otherwise had determined upon continuing 
another winter at Boothia. While they were at 
Fury Beach the second time, on their return, (for 
having proceeded as far north as Leopold South 
Island, in latitude 73 deg. 56 min., and 90 de- 
grees of west longitude, they were driven back 
by the want of provisions, and the prospect of a 
winter of great severity,) the rations of provi- 
sions served were one pound a week of meat to 
each man ; the bread, however, which was in 
abundance, was not given at any fixed allow- 
aace. In the course of the journey from Sheriff 
14 



150 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

Harbour, they had only half allowance. The 
captain says, and all will readily believe him, 
that this was a period of the greatest mental 
anxiety to him, and that the greatest difficulty 
which he experienced was in preserving disci- 
pline amongst the crew. 

They first reached Fury Beach in July, 1832, 
and in October of the same year they came 
back ; they were five months travelling up the 
coast, one month at Fury Beach, and they were 
trying to escape from the Ir-t of August, 1832, 
until October, in the three boats belonging to 
the Fury, Aware of the distance they were 
from Lancaster Sound, they knew they had no 
other chance of escaping except by their boats 
crossing Prince Regent's inlet, and getting into 
Lancaster Sound. The distance from Fury 
Beach to Lancaster Sound, is about one hun- 
dred milas. 

At this place, Mr. Thomas, the carpenter, 
died, the third person who ceased to live during 
the voyage : he fell a victim to the climate, and 
was the only one of those who died that did. 
The others died of constitutional diseases which 
would have been attended, in all probability, 
with a similar result had they remained in Eng- 
land. 

Next year the party again qukted Fury Beach 
for Lancaster Sound in their boats, and were 
more fortunate than they had been in the at- 
tempt to escape, as they found the ice broken 
and the passage clear. 

On the 25ih of August, they crossed Navy 
Board Inlet, and on the follow ing morning des- 



CAPTAIN EOSS. 151 

cried a ship in the offing ; with what feelings of 
delight and joy may be readily guessed at, after 
their trials by land and sea for the four prece- 
ding years. The discovery of the Isabella was 
first made by Commander Ross, who, however, 
did not at once communicate the news, as he 
was for a while doubtful of the reality. It was 
one of the many remarkable coincidences of 
this voyage, that the ship which saved the ad- 
venturous party should have been the same 
which their chief commanded in his first expe- 
dition to the Arctic Seas, in 1818. 

At the time the Isabella picked them up, three 
of the crew were in a state of sickness ; which, 
according to Captain Ross's statement, but for 
the kind attention of Captain Humphreys, who 
commanded it, must have terminated fatally 
within the course of another week at farthest. 
Captain Ross is asked, (112,) by a member of 
the Committee- — 

" Do you consider that if Captain Humphreys 
had not entered the spot where he supposed you 
to be, there was any probability of your remain- 
ing in that region during the whole of the year ?" 
— to which his answer is, " Not the whole of us ; 
there must have been loss of life, if Captain 
Humphreys had not picked us up ; those who 
were sick must have died in the course of a 
week." 

" 113. The object of my question is to as- 
certain if there was any probability, by means 
of your boats, of falling in with any other 
whaler ? — We might have done so, but it would 
have been with the loss of our men." 



152 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

It appears also, that Captain Humphreys took 
the course he did for the express purpose of 
looking for the party ; he did so, however, it 
would seem rather in the expectation of finding 
their bones, than believing them to be alive ; 
and in order to induce his crew — the Isabella 
was employed as a whaler — to accompany him 
into the part of the Arctic Sea where they dis- 
covered the expedition, he told them they were 
likely to meet with whales there. He had no 
instructions from his owners to do so, but pro- 
ceeded there on his own responsibility, and was 
followed by another whaler, the William Lee^ 
from Hull. These ships had both lingered be- 
yond the time any of the rest did that came up 
in that direction. 

The Isabella continued about a month in the 
whaling ground looking out for whales, after 
Captain Ross and his party had been taken on 
board. They got down on the fishing ground 
about a week after that event, namely on the 
1st of September, and they continued the whole 
of that month in it. Captain Humphreys re- 
mained a considerable time after he had other- 
wise intended in order to enable Captain Ross 
to make his observations ; and in doing so, must 
have run considerable risk. His ship encoun- 
tered greater danger than usually occurs in get- 
ting out of Lancaster Sound, in consequence of 
being nearly beset with ice. It appears that 
both the Isabella and William Lee went up 
higher into Lancaster Sound by at least a hun- 
dred miles than any other whaler had ever done 
before. 



CAPTAIN EOSS. 153 

While they remained in the Isabella, Captain 
Ross was enabled to complete his survey of the 
coast, which had up to that remained unfinished. 
There was a difference between him and Cap- 
tain Parry, as to the longitude of the coast of the 
Fishery, with reference to which Captain Ross 
here states : — " I have, by an actual observa- 
tion, put that difference totally out of the ques- 
tion, and proved that the former survey I had 
made was correct, besides surveying several 
banks I had passed over in the Isabella, on that 
coast." He considers the surveys which he 
made in her, subsequently to this period, as more 
advantageous to commerce than those which 
he had laid down before. He explored in her 
several harbours into which ships receiving da- 
mage might go in order to repair, and also the 
places where the whales meet to breed. The 
whole of this has been surveyed, and fully de- 
termined by actual difference of longitude. 
These discoveries have not yet been made to 
the Board of Admiralty, because, Captain Ross 
states, " it would injure his publication to do it." 

The result of the surveys here made, will, 
when generally known, no doubt prove of ines- 
timable benefit to the commercial interests of 
this country, if we are to judge of them by what 
we know has followed from Captain Ross's first 
voyage, which may be thus briefly stated, fol- 
lowing as closely as possible his own language. 
*' I think," he says, " by the voyage®of 1818, a 
very valuable fishery has been discovered by 
me which would not have been known unless 
that voyage had taken place. I surveyed that 
14* 



154 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

coast from the latitude of 74 deg. to 64 deg., 
and laid down the latitudes and longitudes, cor- 
rectly, giving directions for the ships. This was 
a distance of between 600 and 700 miles. In 
point of fact, previous to my exploring Baffin's 
Ba}' in 1819, the fishing ships were never ac- 
customed to go more than about a hundred miles 
north of Dico Bay ; and never were able to 
cross over to Lancaster Sound, which has now 
become a common track. I explored the whole 
of Baffin's Bay in that year, and discovered that 
it was possible to cross that barrier of ice that 
had never been even attempted before. And since 
that time, there has constantly been a great ac- 
cession of ships from other fisheries resorting to 
Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound for fishing ; 
and certainly property in the way cf fish, to the 
amount of nearly two millions sterling have been 
derived from that fishery in consequence of that 
discovery. In the year 1820, as many as 1,028 
ships went to Greenland fishery : and during the 
last year only two, the remainder all going to 
Davis's Straits. Previously to my exploring 
Baffin's Bay, it was the custom for the fishing 
ships to return home in July and August. I 
stated the practicability of their waiting the 
months of August and September, as being the 
best fishing months, and that has hitherto proved 
to be the fact."* 

The Isabella arrived at Stromness in Orkney, 



* In 1830, more than twenty ships were lost in crossing^ 
Melville Bay, by a southerly gale; they got beset in the ice. 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 155 

the 27th of October, 1833, thirteen months after 
Captain Ross had abandoned his ship — thirteen 
months of hardship unequalled in the annals of 
the maritime service. The most remarkable 
part of the expedition is the small number of 
deaths which took place during the period. One 
of the seamen died in the early part of the voy- 
age from consumption, and the second death 
was occasioned by mental despondency ; the 
third only, that of the carpenter, being in any 
way attributable to the effects of the climatCr 
Captain RosSj in the summer of the year 1830, 
while at Victory Harbour, had a fall and broke 
both his legs ; this, and some adventures with 
the bears, partaking strongly of the ludicrous in 
combination with danger, were the only mishaps 
which befel the party. This result might in any 
other case be attributed to accident as much as 
the carefulness of the head of the expedition ; 
but it should be borne in mind, when forming an 
opinion on this point, that during Captain Ross's 
former voyage to the same part of the world, in 
1818, not a single man out of the fifty-eight of 
which the crew of the Isabella then consisted 
was lost, durinoj a stay of nine months, and at a 
period when he must have had very little expe- 
rience in the dangers of the climate, and the fa- 
ciHties for surmounting them. Anthony Buck, 
one of the crew, also, it appears lost his sight 
in consequence of an attack of epilepsy. This 
man was at first supposed by Captain Ross to 
have practised deceit, inasmuch as it was sus- 
pected he knew himself to be subject to the 
disease at the time when he engaged to serve 



156 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

in the expedition. But this was not the case, 
as appears from the man's own affidavit, sworn 
before Mr. Moorsom, of Whitby, and the con- 
current testimony of other persons ; the Com- 
mittee have recommended his case to the con- 
sideration of Government. [See the Appendix.^ 

The arrival of Captain Ross in the British 
Islands was immediately announced at Lloyd's, 
where the event, at first incredible, was hailed 
with great and universal satisfaction. It came 
with such suddenness that doubts were thrown 
on the authenticity of the intelligence. The 
arrival, however, of the traveller in Hull re- 
moved any doubt which might have existed. 
Captain Ross, accompanied by Commander 
Ross, Mr. Thom the purser, and Mr. M'Diar- 
mid the surgeon, was received in that town with 
every feeling of respect, and a public enter- 
tainment given him, at which the freedom of the 
borough was presented to him, with an appro- 
priate address on the part of the corporation. 
He arrived in London on the 19th of October, 
at the Portland Hotel, whence his letter to the 
Admiralty Commissioners is dated. Next day, 
Sunday, he and his nephew waited on Sir James 
Graham at the Admiralty, and proceeded thence 
to Windsor, where they had the honour of being 
presented to his Majesty, and spending the 
evening at the royal table. The whole crew 
had arrived in London by this time, and mus- 
tered on the ensuing Tuesday at the Admiralty. 

To the importance of the results of this for- 
tunate voyage of discovery, the House of Com- 
mons' Committee advert in their report in the 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 157 

following terms : — " Independently of the de- 
monstration that the passage which had been 
considered by preceding navigators to be one of 
the most likely to lead from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific ocean, does not exist, thus narrowing 
the field for future expeditions, if such should 
ever be undertaken ; independently of the addi- 
tion of between six and seven hundred miles 
of coast to our geographical knowledge, and of 
the valuable addition to magnetic science and 
meteorology, which this expedition will supply, 
your Committee cannot overlook the public ser- 
vice which is rendered to a maritime country, 
especially in time of peace, by deeds of daring 
enterprise and patient endurance of hardship, 
which excite the public sympathy, and enlist 
the general feeling in favour of maritime adven- 
tures. Of this result they have strong evidence 
in the national subscription which furnished the 
funds for the expedition of Captain Back in 
search of Captain Ross and his gallant party, to 
which the Government also contributed two 
thousand pounds." 

When it was found that nearly four years had 
elapsed without any intelligence from Captain 
Ross or his companions, the Royal Geographi- 
cal Society determined on awakening the sym- 
pathy of the public towards the necessity of an 
exploratory expedition by another route in 
search of the missing party. A public meeting 
was accordingly convened, and in a short time 
a fund nearly sufficient raised by subscription 
to fit one out with this excellent object in view. 
Government, it is said, through the instrumen- 



158 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

tality of Mr. Under-Secretary Barrow, of the 
Admiralty, to whose zeal and knowledge science 
is so much indebted, advanced two thousand 
pounds to complete the required amount. The 
expedition to search for Captain Ross in Re- 
gent's Inlet, was intrusted to the superintendence 
of Captain Back, who left this country in Feb- 
ruary, 1833. [See the Appendix.] 

It has been stated, in the early part of this 
narrative, that Captain Ross's own losses were 
heavy. On this subject he said to the Commit- 
tee, that he had sustained, besides the three 
thousand pounds for the outfit of the expedition, 
in addition to what his spirited friend and patron, 
Mr. Felix Booth, had advanced, the loss of 
the interest upon the amount of his half-pay, 
which had accumulated while he was away, 
amounting to two hundred pounds. He also 
states, that he might have been paid full pay by 
the Government, which would have amounted 
to three thousand pounds, at the rate of pay 
given to himself and Captain Parry on their 
former expedition in the Isabella and Alexander ; 
this should be estimated at £600 a year, the 
double pay of a commander. Besides this, with 
the actual loss of his fortune in fitting out the 
expedition, he raised £1000 on his own property, 
and lost about as much more in instruments and 
other articles. In addition also to these actual 
losses, he stated to the Committee that he was 
himself liable to the payment of the men's 
wages ; but his opinion of the disinterested con- 
duct of Mr. Booth was such that he believed he 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 159 

would have paid it to him back, ahhough he was 
not bound to do so. 

On the latter point the following correspon- 
dence took place between Captain Ross and the 
Admiralty a few days after his return. 

Copy of a letter from Captain John Ross, R. 
N. to the Hon. George Elliot, C.B. 

" Portland Hotel, 
" 22d of October, 1833. 

" Sir, The expedition from which I am now 
returned, having been undertaken in 1829 at my 
own expense, I necessarily came under certain 
engagements with the crew, which, according 
to my expectation at the time, might be likely 
to terminate in fifteen months, and in that case 
I should have been enabled to fulfil those en- 
gagements ; but as the absence of the men has 
been protracted to four years and a half, the 
claims on me have greatly increased, while, by 
the loss of my vessel, the means of discharging 
them has been much diminished. 

" In venturing to request you will submit my 
case to the Lords Commissioners of the Admi- 
ralty, I feel assured that the public nature of the 
undertaking, and the unparalleled sufferings 
which have attended it, will bring their lordships 
to the consideration of the circumstances 1 have 
stated, with every disposition to afford me the 
means of discharging obligations of so sacred a 
character. It is true that according to law, the 
men may not be able to compel the payment of 
their vvages after Oct., 1831, when all hopes of 
savino; the vessel led to her abandonment. But 



160 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

from a sense of what is due to my character as 
an officer of the navy, and a feeling of what is 
due to the men, whose constancy was never 
shaken under the most appalHng prospects, and 
to whose fidehty and obedience I owe so much, 
I should be ashamed of myself if I could for a 
moment entertain a thought of any subterfuge, 
whereby I might evade the payment of their 
well-earned wages. I am anxious, however, 
with my slender means to appeal to their lord- 
ships in the first instance, in the confident per- 
suasion, that an undertaking so entirely of a 
naval nature will receive their countenance and 
support ; and that under their lordship's recom- 
mendation, his Majesty's Government will be 
pleased to consider the voyage as one that the 
payment of the officers and men should become 
a public charge. 

" As the men have most of them arrived in 
town, and wait the adjustment of their claims, 
I need scarcely add that it is very desirable that 
I should, with as little delay as possible, re- 
ceive an intimation of their lordships' decision 
upon the application. 

" I have the honour to be, Sir, 

" Your obedient Servant, 

" John Ross, 

" Captain of the Royal Navy . " 

Copy of a letter from Mr. Barrow to Captain 
John Ross, R. N. 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 161 

" Admiralty, 
25th of October, 1833. 

" Sir, I have received and laid before my 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, your 
letter, dated on board the Isabella, of Hull, in 
Baffin's Bay, in September last, and I am com- 
manded to express their lordships' satisfaction 
at the providential deliverance of yourself and 
companions from a perilous situation, unequal- 
led in the records of navigation, and their con- 
gratulations at your safe return. 

"I am, &c. 

(Signed,) " J. Barrow." 

Copy of a letter from Captam John Ross, R. 
N. to Mr. Barrow. 

" 26th of October, 1833. 

" Sir, In consequence of a verbal communi- 
cation with Sir Thomas Hardy, I have the hon- 
our to transmit for the consideration of the 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, a list of 
the officers and men employed on the late ex- 
pedition to the Arctic Seas, showing the pay due 
to each, on the principal that I should have felt 
it my duty to act upon towards them, had the 
discharge of those claims rested with myself, 
instead of being taken up by their lordships on 
the grounds of the public nature of the service 
to which the object of the expedition was di- 
rected ; and I have reason to know that the 
officers and men will consider themselves fully 
recompensed by the proposed scale of pay 
15 



162 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

" I trust I may be allowed this opportunity to 
express, for myself and for every person under 
my command, the deep sense we have of the 
kind protection so cheerfully extended to us by 
their lordships. 

" I am, &c. 

(Signed,) "John Ross, 

" Captain of the Royal Navy." 

Copy of a letter from Mr. Barrow to Captain 
John Ross, R. N. dated 28th October, 1833. 



28t7i of October, 1833. 

"Sir, I have received and laid before my 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your 
letter of the 28th inst., transmitting a list of the 
officers and men employed on your late expedi- 
tion to the Arctic Seas ; showing the amount of 
pay due to each, according to the scale by 
which you would have felt yourself bound to re- 
munerate them for their services, and I am com- 
manded by their lordships to acquaint you in re- 
ply, that although these men have no claim on 
his Majesty's Government, inasmuch as the ex- 
pedition was not sent out by the Board of Ad- 
miralty, yet, in consideration of its having been 
undertaken for the benefit of science, of the 
sufferings these men have undergone, the peril- 
ous situation in which they were placed for so 
long protracted a period, and their uniform good 
conduct under circumstances the most trying to 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 163 

which British seamen were, perhaps, ever ex-, 
posed ; and their lordships being moreover 
satisfied of your inabihty to fulfil the engage- 
ments entered into by you, and of the destitute 
state in which these people have providentially 
arrived in their native country, have been in- 
duced, under such peculiar circumstances, from 
a feeling of humanity, immediately to relieve 
you from your engagement, and them from press- 
ing necessity, rather than wait till Parliament 
shall be assembled, to which it is intended to 
submit the case. Their lordships have there- 
fore directed the Accountant General of the 
Navy to advance to you the sum of £4,580 125. 
Sd., as the amount which, by your statement, you 
feel yourself under an engagement to pay to 
the persons therein named, from each of whom, 
on making their payment, you will take a 
stamped receipt as a voucher in full of all de- 
mands they may respectively have upon you. 

" I am, &c., 

(Signed,) " J. Barrow." 

The recommendation of the Committee to 
vote Captain Ross a sum of five thousand pounds 
will therefore barely cover his losses, although 
the Admiralty have made good the liabilities 
which he was under to the men. The Com- 
mittee say that to the importance of the con- 
siderations involved in the inquiry before them, 
they are happy to be enabled to report his 
Majesty's Government has not been insensible, 
and that although Captain Ross's expedition was 



164 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

undertaken entirely on private grounds, and the 
Board of Admiralty could not therefore be held 
responsible for any liabilities incurred, nor call- 
ed upon in strictness to notice in any way the 
services of the individuals engaged in it ; yet, 
as far as the power of the Admiralty extended, 
none of these services have gone unnoticed or 
unrewarded. It appears also from a memoran- 
dum delivered to the Committee by the Admi- 
ralty, that "all the men have received double full 
pay until they finally abandoned their ship, and 
full pay after that until their arrival in England, 
amounting to the gross sum of £4,580 ; that 
they have besides been employed in eligible 
situations in the dockyards, or placed in others 
that will lead to promotion ;" that Mr. Aber- 
nethy, the gunner, " has been promoted, and 
appointed to the Seringapatam ;" that Mr. 
Thorn, purser, "has been appointed to the 
lucrative situation of purser of the Canopus, of 
84 guns;" that Mr. M'Diarmid, the medical 
officer of the expedition, " has been appointed 
assistant-surgeon of the navy, and when quali- 
fied to pass his examination, will be promoted to 
the rank of surgeon ;" that Commander Ross, 
to whom it appear.* the greater part of the 
scientific results of the expedition are due, "has 
been placed on full pay, and appointed com- 
mander of the Victory for twelve months, that 
he may by that length of service be entitled to 
receive the rank of post captain, which is, by a 
special minute of the Admiralty, insured to him 
at the expiration of that time ;" and that " Cap- 
tain John Humphreys, of the Isabella, to whose 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 165 

persevering humanity alone Captain Ross and 
his party under Providence in all probability owe 
their lives, has received that remuneration, with 
the expenses of bringing them home, which up- 
on consideration has been thought proper by the 
Admiralty, and which the Committee state ap- 
pears to them to be a reasonable compensation." 
In these payments it ought perhaps to have been 
taken into consideration, whether Commander 
Ross and Mr. Thorn might not have had, in ad- 
dition to the promotion which has been so pro- 
perly and promptly conferred upon them, their 
pay for the period of time they actually served 
with the Victory, and until they were taken up 
by the Isabella. 

Immediately on Captain Ross's reaching Lon- 
don, the Committee for managing the Arctic 
Land Expedition under the command of Captain 
Back, met to decide on the steps they should 
pursue, in consequence, with respect to that offi- 
cer's recall. The meeting took place on the 
22d of October, Admiral Sir Charles Ogle, one 
of its most active members, in the chair. The 
following communication from Captain Ross 
was read at the meeting : — 

" London, October 20^^. 

*' To the Committee for managing the Arctic 
Land Expedition. 

" Gentlemen, — Of the many circumstances 

of high gratification which have welcomed the 

delivery of myself and my companions from 

four years of severe suffering, there is nothing 

15* 



166 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

(next after a deep sense of the merciful Provi- 
dence wherewith we have been surrounded in 
such great perils) which has excited so strong a 
feeling of gratitude, as the humane and generous 
sympathy of a number of persons, who, at the 
chance of being instrumental in our preservation, 
contributed, with the assistance of his Majesty's 
government, a sum ample for the purpose of 
paying the expense of an expedition, which was 
so promptly and with so much judgment put in 
motion by your Committee, and so wisely con- 
fided to the guidance of Captain Back, whose 
known intelligence and intrepidity gave to the 
Committee a certainty that all would be done 
which a sagacious mind and unflinching perse- 
verance could accomplish. It is my wish and 
duty to make the earliest acknowledgments of 
this instance of wide extended compassion to- 
wards us, and I venture to rely on the favour 
of the Committee to receive with allowance this 
imperfect expression of my feelings towards 
them, to his Majesty's government, to the con- 
tributors to the undertaking, and to the Hudson's 
Bay Company, for the efforts which might have 
proved, as designed, the means of snatching 
myself and my faithful companions from the fur- 
ther sufferings which, almost to the last moment, 
we seemed doomed to encounter. 

" I have the honour to be, 
" Gentlemen, 
" Your very humble and grateful servant, 
" John Ross, 
" Captain, Royal Navy." 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 



167 



To which the following answer was directed 
to be sent :— 



" Arctic Land Expedition, 
" 21 Regent-Street, October 22. 



*' Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of the 20th instant, ad- 
dressed to the Committee for managing the Arc- 
tic Land Expedition, and returning your thanks 
to its members, to the Hudson's Bay Company, 
and all the subscribers towards the equipment of 
that expedition, for the exertions made by them, 
in hopes of rescuing you and yours from your 
perilous situation. 

" In reply, I beg, in the name of the Com- 
mittee, and of all the subscribers, to offer you 
•our warmest congratulations on your safe return. 
And although the main object of Captain Back's 
expedition is thus attained without his assistance, 
yet we feel much gratified that it should have 
gone, inasmuch as it proves to all future adven- 
turers, in alike cause, that their country will not 
be unmindful of them : while on the other hand 
your return also shows that no situation should 
be considered too desperate to be beyond the 
reach of a similar exertion. 

" I have the honour to be, Sir, 
" Your obedient servant, 
*' Charles Ogle, Chairman." 
" To Captain Ross, Royal Navy." 

At the same time a despatch was agreed to be 
forwarded by a winter express to Captain Back, 



168 SECO?iD VOYAGE OF 

acquainting him with Captain Ross's return, and 
directing him to turn his attention now entirely 
to the second object of his mission, — completing 
the coast line of the north-eastern part of Ameri- 
ca, of which little more than one hundred and 
fifty miles remain to be traced. The reader 
will find in the Appendix the latest account of 
the expedition received in England. 

On the Monday succeeding the arrival of 
Captain Ross in London, Mr. Barrow, the under- 
secretary at the Admiralty, forwarded a copy of 
his letter to the Lords Commissioners of that 
board, to the secretary at Lloyd's, accompanied 
with the following note : — 

" Admiralty^ Oct. 22. 
" Sir, 

" I am commanded by the Lords Commission- 
ers of the Admiralty to transmit you the copy of 
a letter addressed to their secretary by Captain 
Ross, containing an outline of the proceedings 
of that gallant officer and his companions, and 
their providential deliverance from a situation 
of peril unequalled in the annals of navigation ; 
and I am to express their lordships' wishes that 
a document so honourable to the parties and to 
the naval service of the country may, through 
the committee for managing the affairs of 
Lloyd's, be made public. 

"I am, Sir, your very humble servant, 

" J. Barrow. 
"Mr. Bennett, Lloyd's." 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 169 

We have seen the following copy of a letter, 
written to a private friend, by Captain Ross, 
dated (like his communication to the Lords of 
the Admiralty, referred to in Mr. Barrow's note, 
on board the Isabella) the 17th of September, 
1833 :— 

" My Dear Sir, 
" I am sure you will be glad to learn that I am 
still * numbered among the living.' I avail my- 
self of the opportunity of a ship bound to your 
hospitable island to send you these few lines. 
Our voyage has been most eventful and inter- 
esting ; and although it has ended in the loss 
of our little vessel, which we have been obliged 
to leave frozen up in a harbour which we dis- 
covered, we trust that, when the important dis- 
coveries we have made, and our sufferings are 
taken into consideration, no one concerned will 
be suffered to lose on this occasion. Our en- 
deavours have indeed been completely success, 
ful, but in a very different way from what had 
been anticipated. We found land instead of 
water, and have unquestionably proved that 
there is no north-west passage to the southward 
of 70 deg. north, or by Prince Regent's Inlet. 
Our discoveries may be said to consist in the 
establishment of no passage to the southward of 
70 deg., the discovery of a large inhabited tract 
of land between latitude G9 deg. and 72 deg., 
and an isthmus which divides the eastern from 
the western sea, only five leagues in breadth ; 
and the discovery of the true position of the 



170 SECOND VOYAGE OF 

magnetic pole. We have existed on the provi- 
sions landed from the Fury ; and last winter 
lived in a snow-liouse on Fury Beach. On the 
26th August last we were picked up by my old 
ship the Isabella, in the Fury's boats. We have 
only lost three men. I need scarcely add, that 
our constitutions have had a severe blow, but 
we have all wonderfully recovered since we 
got on board the Isabella, where we were most 
kindly received. 

"Yours, &;c. 

"John Ross." 

Mr. Thomas, the carpenter, who died from 
the effects of the climate at Fury Beach, had 
been carpenter of the Eurydice hulk at Wool- 
wich, when the expedition was undertaken. 
He was an able and intelligent man, and vo- 
lunteered his services to accompany Captain 
Ross in this expedition. His wife then re- 
sided at Chatham, and not having heard any 
thing of him or his companions for the long 
period of their absence, concluded him dead, 
and went into mourning. But on the intelli- 
gence of the arrival of Captain Ross and his 
companions reaching her, she left home in 
the expectation of finding her husband at 
Woolwich : a confirmation of the truth of her 
forebodings here awaited her. In many other 
instances the relations and friends of those in 
the expedition acted on the same supposition, 
of their having been lost. Captain Ross him- 
self had, previous to his departure, raised 
some money for his own equipment, by exe- 



CAPTAIN ROSS. 171 

cuting deeds for the conditional transfer of his 
property, and in one instance the parties had 
availed themselves of their legal right to obtain 
payment, calculating, as they did, that he had 
been lost. 



APPENDIX. 



CAPTAIN BACK'S EXPEDITION. 

While this volume was going through the 
press, despatches were received (June 18) by 
the Royal Geographical Society from Captain 
Back, and the following extracts, containing the 
most interesting portions of his narrative, were 
published for the information of the subscribers 
to his expedition, and the public at large. 

" Fort Reliance, East-end of 
Great Slave Lake, Dec. 7, 1833. 

"I overtook Mr. King at Cumberland House, 
and got him fairly off, with the two boats heavily 
laden with 123 packages of 90 lbs, each, by the 
7th of June. 

" The accounts I had received from different 
persons of the low state of the water in some 
of the rivers foreboded considerable detention 
to the boats ; and, other circumstances consi- 
dered, it was evident to me that they could not 
reach the eastern end of Slave Lake before the 
commencement of the cold weather. Giving 
up all hope of seeing them again before the ac- 
16 



174 APPENDIX. 

complishment of my plans, I stimulated my 
crew to the utmost, and actually worked them, 
until my arrival at Fort Chippewayan, which was 
about the end of July, for eighteen hours a day. 
On my route I met Mr. M'Leod, an old ac- 
quaintance of mine, and for whom I had a letter 
from the resident Governor, Mr. Simpson, in- 
timating a wish that he should accompany the 
expedition ; and I am sure you will be happy 
to learn that he immediately consented to place 
himself under my orders, and undertake the 
management of the Indians at our winter quar- 
ters. 

"On our reaching Fort Chippewayan, we 
made every inquiry relating to the direction of 
the rivers that debouched at or about the Fond 
du Lac ; and though there evidently appeared to 
be a nearer way to the Barren Grounds than by 
the circuitous one originally intended to be fol- 
lowed, yet the vague and unsatisfactory answers 
of the Indians, together with their obvious igno- 
rance of the distance to the Great Fish River, 
made me at once decide to go by Great Slave 
Lake. 

" It was the 7th of August when we landed 
at Fort Resolution, owing to the detentions in- 
curred by sending to the Salt Plains (a little to 
the westward of the Slave River) for a winter's 
stock of that invaluable article. 

" Many Indians had assembled at this trading 
post, and their principal chief, Le Grande Jeune 
Homme, was waiting my arrival, under a sort of 
promise held out to him that he should accom- 
pany me. But as I was fully aware that his 



APPENDIX. 175 

services most be purchased at a greater rate 
than our limited means could afford, and that he 
knew nothing about the country to the eastward, 
I was glad to compromise the affair and reward 
him for his loss of time by a present of the value 
of forty beaver skins. 

" The season was advancing too fast to admit 
of any more delay, and being unable to procure 
a guide to the Thlew-ee-cho-de-zeth from among 
the Indians, not one of whom possessed a 
knowledge of its locality or direction, I deter- 
mined on leaving Mr. M'Leod to bring the stores, 
while I preceded him in a half-sized canoe, 
with a crew of two * half breeds,' a Canadian, 
an Indian, and an Englishman. With this 
motley and most rickety craft I commenced the 
survey towards the north-east. Our course first 
lay in the direction of the Riviere d Jean, and 
along the low swampy shores of the lake, then 
across to numerous islands, which led us to the 
north side of the lake. The scenery there was 
composed of the most craggy and picturesque 
rocks — mostly primitive, and consisting of flesh- 
coloured feldspar and quartz, with a few trees of 
inconsiderable size. 

" As we advanced, the appearance became 
more imposing, from the circumstance of the 
granitic, or rather the last formation, yielding 
to the trap, which displayed itself in long paral- 
lel ranges of natural precipices, that not un- 
frequently extended to the horizon. 

" In two places the southern shore approaches 
within a mile of the northern, and the detroits 
thus formed have never been known to freeze. 



176 APPENDIX. 

More than one island had a columnar or 
basalticf orm on the precipitous or southwest 
side The water, unlike the turbid yellow we 
hadl eft, was now of a transparent blue, and so 
cold that ice often formed during the night. 

" had now got to lat. 62 deg. 51 min. 40 
sec. N., and long. 109 deg. 25 min. W., and 
could perceive a long blue point stretching to 
the S. E., which my Indian said we must round, 
or make a portage to get to the eastern ex- 
tremity of Great Slave Lake. ' There,' con- 
tinued he ' you will find a river which (I know 
not what the Great Chief may do, but) we, who 
are born here, cannot ascend.' Upon further 
inquiry I found he v/as right, and that some time 
would be saved by taking a more direct course, 
which could only be effected by following the 
uncertain trending of a stream that is called 
' Hoar Frost River.' On our rounding a point, 
this presented itself in a cataract of seventy feet 
descent, and discouraging as this was, and still 
more so the range of mountains through which 
it forced its passage, we commenced the opera- 
tion of transporting the canoe and baggage over 
hill and valley, full 1700 feet : the greatest 
difficulty consisted in conveying the canoe 
through the fallen and entangled wood. The 
numerous rapids in the river annoyed and de- 
layed us ; but the next day we passed the last 
woods, and entered a large lake in the Barren 
Grounds. The latitude of its southern extrem- 
ity is 63 deg. 24 min. 23 sec. N., long. 108 
deg. 11 min. W., or a little to the northward of 



APPENDIX. 177 

the Chesadawd Lake of Hearne. which, how- 
ever, is not known by the natives. 

" In making a succession of portages from 
lake to lake, I crossed the same traveller's line 
of route, and fell on a lake of such magnitude 
as to be bounded on the S. by E. by the hori- 
zon. In a N.E. direction it led us to a river, 
which we went up, and again launched the 
canoe on another extensive sheet of water. 
We were bewildered several times among is- 
lands and deep bays ; still I kept going to the N. 
E., in which direction I was the more assured the 
river must be, from the general flatness of the 
surrounding land, and particularly from the 
north-west dip of a few sand-hills that were oc- 
casionally seen to the northward. 

" After being three days on the same lake, 
I encamped among some sand-hills at the bot- 
tom of a bay, and despatched the men in two 
parties to look for theThlew-ee-cho-de-zeth, the 
source of which I accidentally discovered while 
occupied in taking some angles from the sum- 
mit of a hill. 

" On the third day the people returned, hav- 
ing fallen on the river at some distance from 
us. The canoe was immediately carried to its 
stream, which is narrow in some parts, and con- 
nected with a chain of small lakes by detroits 
and rapids. I could not forbear giving my poor 
voyageurs a glass of grog on this occasion, after 
which grateful ceremony we pursued the mean- 
derings of the current, sometime with ice on 
each bank, till the first of September, when my 
little canoe was so shattered; the nights were so 
16* 



178 APPENDIX. 

cold, the country totally destitute of wood, and 
the men fairly exhausted, that I could not with 
any degree of prudence incur further risk this 
season. 

" The place whence I returned is in latitude 
64 deg. 41 min. N., and longitude 108 deg. 12 
min. W., and about 115 miles E. of Fort En- 
terprise, and only 109 miles from the nearest 
part of Bathurst Inlet. 

" We had been fourteen days without wood, 
and on the 5th of September got to the first 
dwarf pines, about two feet high, and on the 7th 
concluded the journey, by arriving at the east 
end of the Great Slave Lake, where I had pre- 
viously directed Mr. M'Leod to commence the 
building of our establishment. 

" The two boats under Mr. King got to us ex- 
actly a week after, and it is satisfactory to state 
that most of the stores, &c., were undamaged. 

"Our winter house I have called ' Fort Re- 
liance,' from a feeling of dependence on that 
Providence which will always support us amidst 
every trial to which we may be exposed. It is 
situated on a sandy point in a deep bay, which 
receives two small rapid streams from the north- 
ward, and is surrounded by mountains of red 
micaceous granite and gneiss. 

" Fort Reliance is in latitude 62 deg. 48 min. 
15 sec. N., and longitude 109 deg. 10 min. W., 
the variation of the needle being 35 deg. 41 
min. E., and considering this and the entrance 
of the Mackenzie River as the two extremes of 
Great Siave Lake, it vvill i)e found to equal Lake 



APPENDIX. 17& 

Michigan in lengib, and may therefore be con- 
sidered as the second largest lake in America. 
" I have a very compact observatory built, 
where the needle is performing its diurnal func- 
tions with more or less regularity, according to 
the appearance of the aurora, or other atmos- 
pheric phenomena. The dip, magnetic force, 
&c,, have also been ascertained : nor am I con- 
scious of having omitted anything that the 
friends and projectors of the scientific part of 
this expedition may have expected from me." 

The following passages from the examination 
of Captain Ross will be read with some in- 
terest ; we prefer giving them in this detached 
stale to incorporating them with the body of our 
narrative, that they might not interfere with its 
contiouousness. 

SURVEY or THE COAST OF BAFFIIs's BAY. 

" 184. In your actual survey of the western 
coast of the bay of l-afFm, were you able to cor- 
rect any material errors in the e.\istir)g charts? 
— Oh, most certainly ; particularly of two banks 
which Ihad formerly laid down, called the Alex- 
ander and Isabella banks, which had been ex- 
punged from the charts, which I originally 
made, by subsequent survey, but re-established 
by me on the same spot. 

" 185. That is of importance, because the 
new whale fisheries are on the spot ? — Yes. 

" 183. What latiiade is that in? — About sixty- 
nine. 

" 187. Have you laid down any part of the 



180 APPENDIX. 

north coast of Frobisher's Strait for the first 
time ? — Yes. We consider Frobisher's Strait 
to be fictitious. We laid down the coast between 
Resolution Island all the way to the height of 
seventy-four north, most of which had not been 
laid down before. 

" 188. When you say Frobisher's Strait is 
fictitious, do you believe there is no sea between 
Resolution Island and the main land ? — Cer- 
tainly I suppose that ; but there are two Fro- 
bisher's vStraits ; there is one Frobisher's Strait 
in making Greenland an island, that I consider 
to be fictitious ; if it is the one that makes Re- 
solution Island an island, that is one certainly." 

STEAM-BOATS IN THE ARCTIC SEAS. 

" 193. How long were you enabled to make 
use of the paddle wheels of your steamer after 
you reached the heavy ice ?— The steam-en- 
gine gave way before we reached the ice. We 
were run much among the ice with it, but as far 
as I could judge they would answer uncom- 
monly well. They answered beyond my ex- 
pectation. 

" 193. From your experience in navigating 
the Polar seas, do you think it safest to navigate 
those seas with a steam-boat with the paddles 
projecting from her side ? — Far better than any 
other mode. 

'* 194. Are not the paddles peculiarly subject 
to damage ? — They were peculiarly constructed 
for the purpose, so that I could raise them out of 
the water at pleasure ; one man was sufficient 
to disengage the paddle entirely from the en- 



APPENDIX. 181 

gines, and raise it out of the water, and out of 
the way of pressure. 

'^ 195. And it was so contrived, that you con- 
ceive steam to be applicable to the propelling of 
vessels in the Polar seas ? — Yes." 

THE NORTH' WEST PASSAGE. 

"196. From your experience of these seas, 
do you conceive that any further attempt to dis- 
cover the north-west passage would be attended 
with great danger ? — -I do. 

" 197. And if successful, would it be attended 
with any public benefit? — I believe it would be 
utterly useless. 

" 198. The indications that were relied upon 
in the beginning of these voyages of discovery, 
as to leading to the conclusion that a passage 
might be found, have totally failed ? — They have 
been totally disproved. 

" 199. Does your experience lead you to 
make the same remark with respect to making 
the northern pole by the Spitzbergen sea ? — I 
think it would be attended with danger. 

" 200. But you think it is still possible ?— I 
think that the attempt was made at the wrong 
time of the year." 

HIGHEST DEGREE OF LATITUDE REACHED. 

"201. What is the greatest degree of lati- 
tude that any ship has ever reached ? — Scoresby 
has recorded that his father reached eighty- 
four. 

" 202. Eighty4hree has been decidedly 



182 APPENDIX. 

reached? — Oh, yes ! Captain Parry got to 82 
deg. 45 min. 

" 209. What is the greatest degree of lati- 
tude that you have fouad natives ? — In seventy- 
seven north." 

THE Baffin's bay whale fishery. 

On this subject Captain Charles Beaufort is 
examined as follows : — 

" 287. Have you the means of knowing whe- 
ther the whale fishery has been much extended 
by Captain Ross's first voyage ? — Since the 
discoveries in that part of the world, the wha- 
lers have certainly gone in great numbers into 
Lancaster Sound, and have been very success- 
ful in finding whales there. 

" 288. Are you aware how far the land was 
correctly laid down on the west side of Baffin's 
Bay previous to Captain Ross's voyage in the 
year 1818? — It had been laid down originally 
by the early discoveries of Baffin. Frobisher, 
and others ; some doubt, however, was after- 
wards thrown upon its correctness ; but the voy- 
ages of Ross and Parry have shewn that these 
old navigators were more correct than had been 
imagined. 

" 289. Is it not a fact that previous to Cap- 
tain Ross's first voyage, Baffin's Bay had been 
omitted in the Admiralty's charts, in consequence 
of the great doubt thrown upon the early dis- 
coveries ? — I have been told so, but I never saw 
any chart in which it was omitted. 

*' 290. To whom do you attribute the disco- 
very of the whale fishery, on the west side of 



APPENDIX. 183 

Baffin's Bay ? — To the several voyages that 
have been made there, but to no one in par- 
ticular. 

" 291. Which was the first in order ? — Cap- 
tain Ross's, certainly." 



The amount of wages paid by the Admiralty 
to the men engaged in the expedition according 
to the rule recommended by Captain Ross, was 
to Mr. M'Diarmid, the surgeon, 818Z. 18s. 2d. ; 
Alexander Brunton, first engineer, 617Z. 155. ; 
Thomas Blanky, mate, 345Z. 9*. Qd. ; Thomas 
Abernethie, mate, 329/. 16*. &d. ; George Tay- 
lor, mate, 329Z. 95. 4(i. ; Chimham Thomas, 
carpenter, 296Z. IO5, 8d. (died;) William Light, 
steward, 172Z. 145. 8d. ; Richard Wall, sea- 
man, 17 IZ. I65. ; Allan M'Innes, second engi- 
neer, 169Z. I85. 8d. ; Robert Shrewe, carpen- 
ter's mate, 166Z. 95. id, ; Henry Ayre, cook, 
165Z. 25. 8d. ; Anthony Buck, seaman, 127Z. 95. ; 
John Park, seaman, 126Z. 175. ; Joseph Cur- 
tis, seaman, 125Z. 175. ; John Wood, seaman, 
125Z. 75. ; Barney Lackey, landman, 121Z. 18s. 
8fZ. ; David Wood, seaman, and George Bax- 
ter, landman, 121Z. II5. each: James Dixon, 
landman, 89Z. 85. ; and James Marslin, ar- 
mourer, 36Z. I85. 8d. The two last are the 
individuals who died on the passage, from con- 
stitutional disease. 



We shall now present the reader with a brief 
account of Captain Ross's opinion, as delivered 



184 APPENDIX. 

before the Committee, on the subject of magnetic 
electricity, and some other astronomical points. 

"236. Among the valuable observations of 
every kind which you described the voyage to 
have enabled you to collect, are the Committee 
to understand that there are observations con- 
nected with magnetic electricity ? — I know of 
no magnetic electricity ; I know of no such 
term ; but the effect of light and heat upon it 
is an important discovery which we have made. 

" 237. With respect to observations con- 
nected with astronomy, are the Committee to 
receive such information from yourself, or from 
Commander Ross? — They may receive it from 
either ; Commander Ross had the charge of the 
transit which took down the transit of the stars, 
and also the occuhations of stars by the moon 
and moon-culminating stars. 

" 238. Can you or Commander Ross supply 
the Committee with a series of observations con- 
necting the gradual dip of the magnetic needle, 
with its perpendicular position at the point 
which you have assigned as the true magnetic 
pole ? — ^I have them, but not in a state to set be- 
fore the Committee. 

" 239. You stated that you did not recognise 
such a term as magnetic electricity ; do you 
mean to state you do not beheve there is any 
identity or necessary connexion between mag- 
netism and electricity (electro-magnetism ?) — I 
believe they may combine with each other, but 
I do not understand how electricity can be mag- 
netized ; the magnet may be electrified, but I 
do not know that it can. 



APPENDIX. 185 

" 240. Is that opinion formed from the ob- 
servations you made during your last voyage on 
the phenomena of electricity and magnetism ? — 
No, there was no natural electricity present 
where we were. 

" 241. Then you made no observations with 
respect to electrical phenomena which you think 
would be important to science ? — No, none 
whatever. 

" 242. With respect to the aurora borealis, 
it has been matter of some discussion whether 
the aurora borealis is accompanied with noise 1 
— I never observed any noise with it, but I have 
a new theory of it which I intend to publish. 

" 243. Did you observe any magnetic phe- 
nomena which you consider of importance apart 
from the existence of the magnetic poles ? — Yes, 
the effect of light upon the magnet, and its ex- 
posure to such climates." 

The following, from the examination of Mr. 
Children, one of the secretaries of the Royal 
Society, also has reference to the same sub- 
ject :— 

" 414. You stated to the Committee that the 
discovery of Commander Ross corresponded 
with the preconceptions of Professor Barlow ; 
do you apprehend that the magnetic pole is a 
fixed point, or moveable 1 — The observations 
hitherto made cannot possibly be considered 
sufficient ; for that must require repeated ob- 
servations. I know it was the opinion of Pro- 
fessor Barlow, two or three years ago, that 
there were not one or two but perhaps several 
magnetic poles ; the poles are probably fixed 
17 



186 APPENDIX. 

points ; but they may be moveable. Mr. Bar- 
low has subsequently I believe given up that 
view. 

" 415. Are we not quite at the threshold of 
knowledge ? — Yes, and every observation is of 
course valuable. 

" 416. Every contribution to magnetic know- 
ledge is of very great importance to a maritime 
country ? — Yes, I should think so ; very much. 

"417. And worth the sacrifice of money? 
—Certainly ; and it is certainly something for 
an Englishman to have been the first and only 
one who has experimentally decided the true 
position of the north magnetic pole, which he 
has clearly done ; h« appears to have gone to 
a point where the dipping needle stood directly 
perpendicular, where the horizontal direction 
was entirely lost ; that is, as Mr. Barlow ex- 
presses it, the pole itself. 

"418. Did Captain Parry follow the same 
line ? — I do not recollect ; he cannot have been, 
on his voyage ; at the very spot where Com- 
mander Ross was the compass did not traverse 
at all ; it was perfectly upright." 

THE ESQUIMAUX. 

The habits and mode of livelihood of the 
Esquimaux have been rendered familiar to most 
readers by the descriptions, ample and correct, 
which former travellers in the regions they in- 
habit have given at successive periods. They 
present, from their insulated position, a remark, 
able contrast to most other savages, their man- 
ners being, as we have already stated, remark- 



APPENDIX. 187 

ably mild and gentle ; and among them a spirit 
of the most perfect contentment with their own 
condition is one of the remarkable features of 
their character. The wants of the Esquimaux, 
a necessary consequence of the climate in 
which he is found, are very few, and very 
readily supplied, even by such comparatively 
rude means as he possesses to arrive at their 
attainment. Contented with his own lot, as 
much from carelessness about himself, as from 
want of knowledge that others are better off, if 
his snow hut be sheltered from the north wind, 
and if he find a sufficient supply of provisions 
for the day, he seeks no more ; his greatest 
affliction is the loss of his day's hunting, from 
the severity of the weather : and living in a 
state of peace with each other, their nomadic 
life presents none of those dangerous features 
which render other savages, and those in re- 
gions not very remote from where the Esqui- 
maux dwells, truly savage. In person they are 
of low stature, but stoutly and rather well made ; 
the complexion is of an olive tint, the face broad 
and round, with dark, small, and piercing eyes ; 
they possess excellent humour and temper, but 
their ignorance is gross in the extreme. They 
had no conception that there existed any coun- 
try but their own, and such places as they had 
visited in their hunting excursions. The women 
differ little, either in appearance or dress, from 
the men ; the same skin of the seal or deer suf- 
fices for each, and cut and fashioned in nearly 
the same manner. Their gestures were very 
significant, and when they received small pre- 



188 APPENDIX. 

sents, they expressed their satisfaction and de- 
light by violently jumping into the air. One of 
the two principal natives, TuUooachiu, when he 
visited the ship, had had his leg amputated ; it 
had been taken off below the knee in a clever 
manner, and he himself described the operation, 
as well as it could be gathered, to have been 
done in this manner. The upper part of the 
leg was bound with thongs, and the flesh stripped 
from the lower part with their rude knives ; 
(which, as well as their spears, sledges, and 
other things, are made of whale and other fish 
bones, wood being entirely unknown amongst 
them ;) " the bone was then inserted in a hole 
in the ice, and snapped asunder, the parts seared 
by some lighted moss, and nature did the rest." 
The British sailors, during the period of his 
visit, made him a wooden leg, with which he 
seemed evidently quite delighted. 

The Esquimaux, during the period of Cap- 
tain Ross's sojourn in the neighbourhood of the 
Victory, erected a village. The only materials 
they made use of in the, construction of their 
rude temporary huts were snow and ice. The 
rapidity with which they erect them is quite 
equal to the extraordinary nature of the matter 
employed in their erection. They are built, 
furnished, and inhabited in the course of a very 
few hours. They are round, with an arched 
dome of very good formation ; the window is 
formed of a fragment of ice, which admits suffi- 
cient light for their purposes. The entrance 
is by a long narrow passage in the snow ; the 
bed is formed of an embankment of snow in the 



APPENDIX. 189 

interior, which they cover with skins. They 
cook their food, and the apparatus is as simple 
as can well be imagined, yet it satisfies all their 
wants. A hollowed stone, filled with whale 
blubber, serves both for cooking place and 
lamp, and the wicks are formed of moss ; this 
gives out abundance of both light and heat for 
all their purposes. As may be supposed, from 
the primitive Hfe they lead, they possess little 
or no property ; their skins, their trifling cook- 
ing utensils, as just described, their spears and 
knives of whalebone, a sledge and dogs to con- 
vey it, comprise the whole property of the tribe, 
which does not much exceed a hundred souls of 
both sexes. 



190 APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



CAPTAIN BACK'S EXPEDITION. 



The following summary of Captain Back's 
expedition, it is believed will be found interesting. 



In 1833 an association in England fitted out 
an expedition to proceed to the Arctic regions 
in search of Captain Ross and his companions, 
whose long absence had caused much painful 
anxiety. Captain Back, who had the benefit of 
experience in Arctic enterprises under Captain 
Franklin, volunteered his services, and was in- 
trusted with the charge of the expedition, which 
consisted of two officers and about twenty men, 
part of whom were engaged in England, and part 
in Canada. All of them were inured to fatigue, 
and accustomed to the duties they had to perform. 

Agreeably to the plan of this overland expe- 
dition. Captain Back proceeded from Liverpool 
to Montreal, by way of New- York, early in the 
spring of 1833. The route fixed upon was the 
ordinary one for the fur traders, viz. by the 
Ottawa, French River, the Great Lakes, Lake 
Winnipeg, &c., to Great Slave Lake, being a 
distance from Montreal of 2300 miles. The 
mode of travelling on the lakes was in a large 



APPENDIX. 191 

birch canoe, which at Fort William was changed 
for smaller ones adapted to river navigation. 
From Slave Lake Captain Back was instructed 
to proceed to the Great Fishing River, and after 
passing the winter in that quarter, to direct his 
course the following season for the mouth of 
the river in the Arctic Sea, which was believed 
to be less than 300 miles from the wreck of the 
Fury, at which place it was hoped that tidings of 
Captain Ross would be obtained. 

In a letter from Captain Back, dated at Fort 
Reliance, east end of Great Slave Lake, Dec. 7, 
1833,* he states that he had that season proceed, 
ed as far as latitude 68 deg. 41 min. N., and 
longitude lOS deg. 12 min^ W., being only 109 
miles from Bathurst Inlet. The party con- 
cluded their journey in September, by going 
into winter quarters at the place above named, 
in lat. 62 deg. 48 min. N., Ion. 109 deg. 10 min. 
W. The winter house they erected they called 
Fort Reliance. Captain Back describes Great 
Slave Lake as equal in size to Lake Michigan. 

After the return of Captain Ross to England, 
a messenger was despatched to Captain Back 
with the intelligence, which, it was hoped, 
would reach him by the way of the Hudson Bay 
Company's settlements, before he broke up his 
winter quarters. Fortunately these hopes were 
realized, and letters received in England from 
Captain Back, dated at Fort Reliance, April 29, 
and May 5, 1834, announce the receipt by him, 



* See page 173. 



192 APPENDIX. 

on the 25th April, of the pleasing intelligence 
of the safe return of Captain Ross. The des- 
patches to Captain Back, after acquainting him 
with the safe arrival of Captain Ross and crew, 
and of the discoveries made by Captain and 
Commander Ross, direct him to proceed to 
Cape Turnagain, so named from being the ex- 
treme northern point reached by Captain Frank- 
lin ; thence he is directed to proceed to the obe- 
lisk of stones erected by Commander Ross to 
mark the south-west limit of the neck of land 
which he partially explored. This obelisk is in 
lat. 69 deg. 37 min. N. and Ion. 90 deg. 40 
min. W., and is supposed to be distant only 150 
miles from Cape Turnagain. It is believed that 
Captain Back will thus be able to complete the 
survey of the north-east coast of America, up to 
the southern point where Captain Ross's dis- 
coveries terminate. 

Early in the present spring (1835,) Captain 
Back and his party are expected to set forward 
on their return to England. 



